Douglas Owsley Chooses to Omit Peer-Review on Kennewick Man Research

By Mary Fairchild (updated 11/15)

 Marmes Rockshelter Site, not far from the Kennewick Site.

“..only Owsley’s team had been allowed to study the bones(Kennewick Man)…There has been an absence of peer-reviewed articles published when standard procedure is for scientists to submit articles to scholarly journals, have other experts review the articles…” Peter Lape, Burke Museum Archaeologist

“The Army of Corps of Engineers, which has custody of the bones, had pressed the scientists to publish their research. After lectures and interviews only—” Joel Achenbach

“..many of Owsley’s team’s conclusions stemmed from “tricky aspects” of forensic anthropology…all of which no one outside his team has had the chance to scrutinize or see how they came to their conclusions.” Rich Hutchings

Humans have inhabited the Columbia River’s watershed for more than 15,000 years where today many different Native Americans and First Nations peoples have historical and continuing presence.  The river system hosts many species of anadromous fish, which migrate between freshwater habitats and the saline Pacific Ocean. These fish—especially the salmon species—provided the core subsistence for natives; in past centuries, traders from across western North America traveled to the Columbia to trade for fish. At the Bonneville Dam, Columbia River Gorge, sea lions still chase migrating salmon some 146 miles from the ocean.

In 1962, archaeologists found evidence of human activity dating back 11,230 years at the Marmes Rockshelter site, near the confluence of the Palouse and Snake Rivers in eastern Washington. Radiocarbon dating indicated that the human remains were about 10,000 years old. These human remains have been repatriated without any controversy thanks to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). (4)

Rock shelters on the lower Snake River not far upstream from the Kennewick discovery site, with deep and generally artifact-rich cultural layers, have traditionally been interpreted as evidence of continual occupation. Olivella biplicata marine shells found at the site where in pre-Mazama deposits estimated to date between 9000 and 7600 years ago and have been interpreted as grave goods. (8)

Downstream from the Marmes site, the skeletal remains of a 9,000-year-old prehistoric man named the Kennewick Man were found near Kennewick, Washington, in a river terrace on the west side of the Columbia River near the confluence of the Columbia and Snake Rivers–a sight that falls within the Columbian Basin.

A coalition of Columbian River Basin Indian tribes claimed the skeleton was an ancestor and demanded the bones for reburial as required by NAGPRA.

Then a team of researchers led by the Smithsonian’s leading forensic anthropologist Douglas W. Owsley was formed.  They believed that the Kennewick Man did not have the characteristic features of the tribes and sued the government in order to study the bones. 

The Smithsonian was once a repository of unstudied Indian skeletons until Congress enacted the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act (NAGRA). Anthropologists had been digging up Indian remains and storing them in museums, often unstudied and violating Native American spiritual beliefs.

“My requests to study the skeleton (to the Army Corps of Engineers and to the Umatilla Tribe to whom the corps had assigned the remains) went unanswered; the skeleton was to be returned and likely reburied in less than a few weeks.” Douglas W. Owsley

According to the National Park Service, the remains needed to meet the definition of “Native American” according to the definition in the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). This was resolved by chronological information supplied by the radiocarbon analysis of bone samples and previously conducted scientific examinations. Now there needs to be a cultural affiliation between the remains and one or more modern Indian tribes. If a cultural affiliation is determined to exist, the remains are subject to disposition to the Indian tribe or tribes that have the closest cultural affiliation with the remains that, upon notice, makes a claim for their reception.

Although the Kennewick remains do not have a close affinity to any modern group, metric data do suggest an association with the small number of early Holocene human remains, dated from approximately 11,000 to 6,000 years ago, that have been studied. (8)

As of April 19, 2004, the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an earlier decision by U.S. District Court Judge Jelduks that the remains could not be defined as “Native American” in the NAGPRA law because they were so old that it was impossible to establish a link with modern-day Native Americans. (14)

Since this ruling, the plaintiffs and their colleagues have visited the Kennewick Man three times at the Burke Museum for scientific research and representatives from some of the tribes involved in the case have visited and conducted ceremonies remaining committed to having Kennewick Man repatriated.

Burke Museum Anthropological Archaeologist, Peter Lape, has expressed his concern after observing that only Owsley’s team had been allowed to study the bones since they were discovered.  Nothing had been published or made available on the results of his studies for others to look at. There has been an absence of peer-reviewed articles published when standard procedure is for scientists to submit articles to scholarly journals, have other experts review the articles prior to publication, and then have experts debate results after publication. Owsley has yet to publish a scholarly article on the Kennewick Man. (13)

“…18 years ago anthropologists excavated the area and found the full skeleton, and determined it had been carefully buried along the river 9,000 years ago.” CBS News, 10/12/14

Owsley’s findings since 2005 confirm earlier reports from scientists working for the Corps of Engineers that the Kennewick Man was deliberately buried. To the tribal people, this shows he was not a loner, but was cared for and buried after his death.

According to the Burke Museum, controversy began when independent archaeologist Dr. James Chatters, working on contract with the county coroner, thought that the bones might not be Native American. He described them as “Caucasoid” and sent a piece of bone to a laboratory to be dated. The results indicated an age older than 9,000 years, later, however, subsequent research on the bones indicates that the skeleton is between 8,400-8,690 years old. (11) 

“Everything I was told about him suggested that Kennewick Man did not have physical features characteristic of Native Americans.” Douglas W. Owsley (10)

Rich Hutchings describes Owsley’s study in the Publication of the Archaeological Society of British Columbia, sharing that he is deeply troubled by Owsley’s language which reminds him of the past where archeology and archaeological remains had been used for purposes of national or chauvinistic ideology. He also noted that many of Owsley’s team’s conclusions stemmed from “tricky aspects” of forensic anthropology like the isotope results to speculate diet and the potential elasticity of a human skull—all of which no one outside his team has had the chance to scrutinize or see how they came to their conclusions. (14)

“Owsley said Kennewick Man is causing scientists to re-think how humans first came to this continent. He said humans came to North America thousands of years earlier than was previously thought…the existence of Kennewick Man, he said, is evidence of boat use…” CBS News,10/12/14

In early October of 2012, Owsley presented his most recent discoveries to an audience of Columbia Valley tribal leaders. Last fall, a 680 page book, in which Owsley is part of, was unveiled.  Several authors, researchers, and photographers claim that Kennewick Man belonged to ancient seafarers who first settled America due to the longer, narrower skull that is more like that of the Moriori people of the Chatham Islands and of the Airiu people of Japan instead of like the native tribes.  The Army of Corps of Engineers, which has custody of the bones, had pressed the scientists to publish their research. After lectures and interviews only—now the research has finally arrived. (1)

Skulls have been found to vary greatly both among individuals and through time. Skulls older than 8,000 years old have been found to possess greater physical diversity than do those of modern Native Americans. This range implies that there was a genetic shift in populations about 8,000 years ago. The heterogeneity of these early people shows that genetic drift had already occurred, meaning the racial type represented by Kennewick Man had been in existence for a considerable period. (7; 10.1007/s12129-000-1034-8.)

“It is common interpretation that the federal courts are saying that Kennewick Man is not an Indian.  Not so.  The ruling is both more nuanced and less.  More, because it says that a single skeleton as ancient as this one, found outside any context of community–village or ancient burial ground–doesn’t provide enough evidence to connect it, culturally or genetically, to a present-day Native group.  Less, because the ruling came during an administrative hearing in which local Plateau tribes were not allowed to introduce evidence–oral tradition, ancient settlements–that could have connected the Ancient One to where he was found.” Kevin Taylor, Indian Country Today (4)

References

1. Joel Achenbach, “Traveling Man,” Winnipeg Free Press; 8/31/14.
2. The Marmes Rockshelter Site”. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
3. Rich Hutcings, “Kennewick Man’ Neither Native American nor Idigenous to Columbia River Valley, says federal archaeologist;” The Midden 44(3/4):3-4, 2012.
4. Kevin Taylor, “The Long Legal and Moral Battle Over Kennewick Man;” Indian Country Today Media Network, 4/25/13.
5. Wikipedia, “Columbia River.”
6. Lemonick, Michael D.; Dorfman, Andrea; Cray, Dan (2006-03-05). “Who Were The First Americans?”. Time (Time, Inc.).
7. Custred, Glynn (2000). 10.1007/s12129-000-1034-8. “The Forbidden Discovery of Kennewick Man”, (Wikipedia:Kennewick Man ref. 7.)
8. NPS Archaeology Program: Kennewick Man
9. CBS News, Kennewick Man, and Ambassador From the Past; 10/12/14
10. PBS, Mystery of the First Americans, Douglas W. Owsley.
11. Burke Museum, Kennewick Man/The Ancient One.
12. Francis McMannamon, Memorandum: Determination That the Kennewick Skeletal Remains are “Native American” for the Purposes of the NAGPRA; The Digital Archaeological Record, 2000.
13. John Strong, “Burke Archaeologist Challenges Smithsonian Over Kennewick Man; Seattle Crosscut.com, 11/2/12.
14. Lynda Mapes, “Kennewick Man Bones not from Columbia Valley, Scientist tells Tribe;” Seattle Times, 10/9/12.
15. Burke Museum, Dr. Peter Lape, PhD., Curator of Archaeology, Associate Professor, Anthropology.