Kennewick Man

Kennewick Man, known as the Ancient One to Native Americans, has been the lightning rod for conflict between archaeologists and indigenous peoples in the United States. A decade-long legal case pitted scientists against Native American communities and highlighted the shortcomings of the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), designed to protect Native remains. In this volume, we hear from the many sides of this issue-archaeologists, tribal leaders, and others-as well as views from the international community. The wider implications of the case and its resolution is explored. Comparisons are made to similar cases in other countries and how they have been handled. Appendixes provide the legal decisions, appeals, and chronology to allow full exploration of this landmark legal struggle. An ideal starting point for discussion of this case in anthropology, archaeology, Native American studies, and cultural property law courses. Sponsored by the World Archaeological Congress.
Presents multiple viewpoints on the Kennewick Man case, a lightning rod for conflict between archaeologists and Native Americans over the control of indigenous remains.

"Much relevant scholarship on American Indians today is taking a new approach toward collaborative processes. In the best scenario tribal voices are leading the discussion, no longer treated by outside scholars as subjects of interest but as scholars themselves and as partners in the discourse. No recent case seems to have had a need for these collaborative processes and thoughtful voices to lend themselves to more than that of the case of the Ancient One. The contents of this book reveal a connected series of voices, all of which have either a personal stake in or a well-thought-out and meaningful take on the plight and fate of this nine-thousand-year-old figure. Readers can view this book, with its short, palatable essays, metaphorically as a conversation among friends and interested parties who are perhaps sitting around a virtual coffee table where serious discussion is taking place, with all of the urgency of life, death, and the spiritual realm at stake. The importance of the fact that repatriation is continuing along, progressing from a movement to a wellpracticed implementation of tribal rights and sovereignty, is well emphasized among these pages."

-Jennifer Karson Engum, American Indian Quarterly