A federal judge has barred Northwest Indian tribes from further participation in the Kennewick Man lawsuit by ordering the case limited to government defendants and the scientists who want to study the ancient skeleton, attorneys said Wednesday.
The tribes had argued they have "spiritual, cultural and property" interests in the 9,400 year-old skeleton discovered in 1996 along the Columbia River near Kennewick, Wash.
The Umatilla, Yakama, Nez Perce and Colville tribes claimed they were entitled to the bones under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, and wanted to have them reburied without any scientific studies.
Archaeological story mentioning Indiana Jones, #3,134 INEEL develops computer tool to help save archaeological treasures
If he'd only had an office computer and online treasure maps, Indiana Jones might have avoided all those snakes, scrapes and sneaky rivals. Now, archaeologists exploring the southeastern Idaho desert have a new tool that Indy would really die for. Computer scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s INEEL have developed a geographic computer system that sifts through data from various sources to help find and map archaeological sites. The system will save archaeologists time, money -- and maybe some digging.
Archaeologists need to protect 12,000 years' worth of artifacts lying forgotten among the sagebrush and basalt on the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory's 890-square-mile desert site. To help them, scientists in the INEEL's Ecological and Cultural Resources Department developed a computer program that merges data about the history, anthropology and archaeology of the terrain into one integrated system. Users can navigate through a friendly interface to call up detailed information and draw customized interactive maps. Computer scientist Sera White demonstrated the system Aug. 12 at the 2004 Environmental Systems Research Institute International User Conference in San Diego.
The new tool will help the archaeologists keep tabs on artifacts ranging from 12,000-year-old mammoth bones to 150-year-old pioneer homesteads -- and even help them predict where more pieces of the historic puzzle might be found, says Brenda Ringe Pace, the lead INEEL archaeologist helping develop the geographic system.
That probably should have gone under the remote sensing update moniker, but we couldn't resist yet another Indiana Jones reference.
More Biblical archaeology Student dig seeks link to King Solomon
Five George Washington University students and their archaeology professor went to Armageddon this summer, not to search for clues to a cosmic battle yet to come between Good and Evil, but to seek understanding of civilizations past.
One of the most important issues they addressed was whether a palace attributed to King Solomon in what is now northern Israel was in fact built by Solomon, the son of King David renowned for his wise leadership and for his illicit relationship with the queen of Sheba.
It’s no small question, and it has great significance for Jews and Christians alike, said Eric Cline, associate professor of ancient history and anthropology at GWU, who co-directed a dig on a hill about 15 miles southeast of Haifa, Israel, known as Megiddo. (Armageddon is a Greek corruption of the Hebrew word har, meaning mount, and Megiddo.)