DNA evidence shows that Kennewick Man was related to Native Americans living today, scientists said Thursday.
The discovery, reported
in the journal Nature, marks the latest of many twists and turns in the saga of the ancient skeleton, which was unearthed in Washington State in 1996.
At the time, scientists were eager to study the specimen to learn more about the origins of early Americans. But Native Americans in the Northwest opposed the research on cultural and religious grounds and sought to block it citing a 1990 law called the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act that required Native American remains and artifacts on federal lands to be returned to their tribes.
Scientists questioned the tribes' claim on the skeleton, arguing that features of the man's skull more closely resembled those found in people from Japan and Polynesia than those of modern Native Americans. In 2004, after nearly a decade in court, the tribes ultimately lost the dispute. Research continued on the bones. Ongoing studies of the cranium continued to conclude that Kennewick Man came from a different population than Native Americans.
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