More Kennewick. I'm waiting with bated breath for a transcript of today's hearing. Here is a report from Oregon Public Broadcasting. I draw your attention to this description of the government's refutation of the claim that K-Man's skeletal attributes suggest he may be unrelated to modern Native American populations:

But attorneys for the federal government argue Kennewick Man was found with no European-style artifacts. So he was clearly a Native American [...]

Good grief.

More tomorrow, hopefully.

Addendum: And furthermore -

Judge Susan Graber asked whether the legal definition of Native American could cover any bones found in North America that were so old they rivaled the age of ancient fossils in Africa or could even qualify as ''Adam and Eve.''

''Yes, they would be considered Native American,'' said Ellen Durkee, a Justice Department attorney representing the Interior Department and various federal agencies.

Judge Ronald Gould questioned whether the timing of ancient migration to North America suggested that 9,300 years was long enough to separate the skeleton from any relationship to modern tribes, but said, ''That's a metaphysical question that's outside my pay scale.''

About as far as they've come to admitting that there are problems with the "1492 rule" is to concede that hypothetical Viking remains should be excluded from its purview. (Must be fair and note that these folks are just doing their job here, which is to defend an indefensible interpretation of law.)

UPDATE: I'd say the context given for Judge Gould's statement about "metaphyical questions", above, is inaccurate. The actual context, from a transcript, follows:

Judge Gould: I guess my question - I'm not assuming that one could look at human remains anywhere in the world and say they are Adam and Eve or the original progenitor of the species. That's more a metaphysical question that's outside my pay scale. But assuming that, and this may not be a correct assumption, but assuming that our species didn't simultaneously spring up in every continent in the world then there's probably some migration at some point had hominids or Homo sapiens that get to a place. My question was aimed at is there any limit on time or any limit on time in relationship to current tribes that the government recognizes that relates to what's Native American. I realize that the definition from the Secretary said if you go back to something before European, before documented visits by Europeans to the continent, the people who lived here are Native American. And my question is, is there any limit to that. Would that go back 150,000 years, if people lived here 150,000 years ago.

DOJ Ms. Durkee: Yes, it would cover that.

(More Kennewick Man links here.)

Posted by Moira Breen at September 10, 2003 06:43 PM