 Robert
Tomanawash struggled to keep his emotions in check. His lips curled
in an expression of inner turmoil as he gripped the lectern at
the edge of the Columbia River.
Just downstream,
Kennewick Man was inadvertently discovered four years ago, sparking
a worldwide controversy about the rights of science vs. religious
beliefs.
"He was
committed to the dirt and that is where he should remain until
the judgment day," the 67-year-old Wanapum elder said Tuesday
morning, spilling four years of pent-up feelings about remains
American Indians call The Ancient One.
Later, he
explained his emotions. "I get that way when I talk for my
people—for my land, for my children, and the children unborn
yet," said Tomanawash. "I am speaking for them."
Comforted
by Monday's announcement that the federal government wants to
give Northwest American Indian tribes the 9,000-year-old remains,
tribal elders gathered in Columbia Park on Tuesday morning to
pray, sing and reach out to an American audience they feel has
largely misunderstood them.
The meeting
served to unite Nez Perce, Yakama, Colville, Wanapum and Umatilla
leaders. "We have endured much, but The Ancient One has endured
more because his spirit has been disturbed," said Colleen
Cawston, chairwoman of the Colville Business Council.
The hourlong
ceremony was perhaps the most heartfelt public expression of Indian
perspective in the drawn-out case. Tribal leaders took the opportunity
to relate their struggle to that of all minority groups.
"If Native
Americans are not allowed ... their belief system, who is next?"
asked Jeff Van Pelt, manager of the cultural resources protection
program for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.
"Can archaeology (overrule) all beliefs?"
On Monday,
the Department of the Interior and the Army Corps of Engineers
told U.S. Magistrate Judge John Jelderks that Kennewick Man could
"reasonably" be linked to modern tribes through tribal
oral history and the location where the bones were found. No funeral
objects or other identifying artifacts were found with Kennewick
Man, except for an obscured spear point lodged in his hip bone.
Even without
much hard evidence, the government said its duty was to interpret
the graves protection laws in favor of the tribes.
The federal
ruling was especially interesting in contrast to an August determination
by the Bureau of Land Management that another of the nation's
oldest skeletons cannot be "culturally affiliated" with
modern tribes.
The BLM—a
sub-agency of the Department of the Interior—determined Spirit
Cave Man was American Indian but said he could not be linked to
any contemporary group, even though he was found with well-preserved
fabric mats that served as clues to his cultural identity.
The top BLM
official in Nevada said that after four years of research, the
government's only option was to keep the 9,000-year-old bones.
While Spirit
Cave Man mirrors the Kennewick case in some details, the government
is taking a different approach in Washington.
Its long-awaited
position released Monday is being reviewed in U.S. District Court
in Portland. Judge Jelderks is expected soon to convene lawyers
for the government and for eight scientists who are suing for
the right to study the bones.
After that,
the case will likely return to the courtroom, where scientists'
lawyers will challenge federal assertions.
While Indians
were heartened by Monday's decision, so, too, were archaeology
advocates, who are no less adamant about the importance of protecting
their beliefs.
"We're
off dead center now, and it looks like the boundaries are clear
on where (federal agencies) are coming from," said Cleone
Hawkinson, a Portland anthropologist and founder of Friends of
America's Past, which seeks to preserve the rights of scientists
to study ancient artifacts.
Hawkinson,
however, expressed deep concern clues to the past are being obscured
by government meddling. "We have all this exciting stuff
and it seems to be almost just evaporating before our very eyes,"
she said. "It's an exciting time, but there's also a bit
of frustration. "These things could disappear as quickly
as we find them."
Tribal elders
also exhibited frustration, faulting the government for taking
so long to figure out that Kennewick Man was their ancestor. In
a joint statement, they asked for the government, the courts and
the scientists to support a "swift return and reburial"
of Kennewick Man.
"It's
time to bridge the gap between the tribes and the scientific community
so that we can rebuild the relationships that existed before this
unfortunate incident," said the tribes' news release.
While scientists
may support that in theory, at least some of them are committed
to fighting a ruling they believe undermines their profession.
And because it's high-profile, the Kennewick case has become their
battle line.
"It seems
to me that all of the resources within the government are applied
very liberally to the tribal issues," Hawkinson said. "We
need to become more political and use those political forces to
help put science back at the table."
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