Kennewick Man, or the “Ancient One,” has caused a lot of controversy since the day he was found in 1996 in Washington state. Scientists, the federal government and Native American tribes were all involved in a nearly decade-long legal battle over his remains that date back more than 8,000 years. His femurs were stolen once. Various [...]
Mistrust and rancor often mark relations between Native Americans and scientists who study the arrival and spread of the first humans into the New World. Researchers eager for data on the distant past can rankle tribes that demand respect for the bones of potential ancestors. But after almost a quarter century of accusations and legal [...]
“I have always been, and will always be Cherokee.” This is University of California, Riverside professor Andrea Smith’s official response to recent allegations that she is not Cherokee, an identity that she has claimed throughout her decades-long career as a prominent figure in Native American scholarship and activism. In a blog post on Thursday night, [...]
In July 1996, two college students were wading in the shallows of the Columbia River near the town of Kennewick, Wash., when they stumbled across a human skull. At first the police treated the case as a possible murder. But once a nearly complete skeleton emerged from the riverbed and was examined, it became clear [...]