Issues of "race" are pre-victorian propaganda used as a political tool, and have no bearing in this discussion. The intentions of scientists are relevant only insofar as it has a direct effect on their methodology.

That said, the real issue (IMO) is that physical anthropologists need to step back and have some major confabs with cultural anthropologists. The things they're discussing aren't just things, they're former people. To all normal people who don't putter with dead body parts, i.e. those unburdened with goth pretensions and/or a slight bent towards the necrophilac, messing with former persons is ugly business, at best. At worst, to many it's disrespectful in the extreme. To many people, local remains - their ancestors or not - are A) sacred and B) theirs - or at least, not yours.

People have intrinsic value unto and of themselves, irregardless and independant of what they can be and do for us. Even if they're dead. You know that, Moira. Did you forget? This is not a time to be forgetting such things, and I think you know that, too.

Go in a good way, dear heart, and try to do no harm that you can't heal. There's far too much needless pain in the world already, and while the software that runs in the wetware is ephemeral, it remains all too real.

Posted by: John Iceknife on July 11, 2005 05:04 PM

The Kennewick Man has a 2.5" spear point in his hip. While the injury was not the cause of his death, he personally experienced this very real the event. The truth of (and conflict between) early peoples must not be fuzzed over with dreamy constructs by those who self-righteously impose an assumed "ancestor" identity on this individual. The ultimate disrespect is to deny the truth of this man's identity and life in preference of 21st century religious notions of their ancestors.

Posted by: anon on July 18, 2005 09:56 AM

Not all tribes view ancestors as Iceknife does: From Nature 436, 162 (14 July 2005) ....The local Tlingit and Haida tribes welcomed the project, which supports their concept of 'haa shagoon', learning from their ancestors.

"We went right to the tribes within 24 hours of finding the bones, asking them to be a partner," says Terence Fifield, the US Forest Service archaeologist for the region.

"We viewed the remains as offering us knowledge," says Rosita Worl, a Tlingit tribal member who is a Harvard-trained cultural anthropologist. "We wanted the knowledge for current and future generations."

Posted by: anon on July 18, 2005 10:17 AM