Kennewick Man was laid to rest alongside a river more than 9,000 years ago, buried by other people, a leading forensic scientist said Thursday.
The skeleton, one of the oldest and most complete ever found in North America, has been under close analysis since courts sided with researchers in a legal battle with American Indian tribes in the Northwest who wanted the remains found near the Columbia River reburied without study.
Douglas Owsley, an anthropologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, discussed his findings in remarks prepared for delivery Thursday evening at a meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences in Seattle.
"We know very little about this time period," Owsley said in a phone interview. "This is a rare opportunity to try and reconstruct the life story of this man. ... This is his opportunity to tell us what life was like during that time."
Most interesting points:
-- The point lodged in his hip is probably not a Cascade point
-- This injury did not kill him (it had healed)
-- Skeletal indications of cause of death are not apparent
There are a few other tidbits. No mention given of why the mode of burial is thought to be deliberate, 2-3 feet down, etc. This should be covered once the formal talk is provided somewhere.