Mysterious Bones: The Story of Kennewick Man (review)

Concert gatecrashers stumble upon a human skull as they trudge through the muck along the riverbank to save the price of admission. That could be a strong opening for a novel, but in this case it’s the opening act in ongoing controversies over a nearly intact human skeleton that was washed loose by rainstorms along the Columbia River in Kennewick, Washington, and was soon dated as approximately 9500 years old. Kirkpatrick discusses the competing claims that were promptly made on the find by both the Native American community represented by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation and a group of scientists who proceeded to invasively study the remains. The claims were further complicated by the ambiguity of Kennewick Man’s (or the Ancient One’s) contradictory ethnic features (comprising traits of both European and Asiatic groups) and the fact that his great antiquity makes it more difficult to argue for a clear line of connection to an extant indigenous community under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. Kirkpatrick is particularly nimble at untangling the Gordian knot of threads that are vital to understanding the Ancient One’s importance, particularly his contribution to the ongoing anthropological debate over human migration onto and across the American continents. Stevenson’s paintings (a medium chosen, no doubt, out of respect to a culture that prohibits photographing human remains) are beautifully detailed, and her spread of proposed facial reconstructions cunningly demonstrates how easy it is to project one’s own expectations onto the Ancient One’s skull. Inserts, maps, source notes, index, timeline, and a selected bibliography are included.