Post by L Roebuck on Aug 27, 2006 18:26:05 GMT -5
Kuwóot yas.éin and Kennewick Man
Kuwóot yas.éin
Kuwóot yas.éin lived 10,300 years ago, hunting, fishing and plying the channels by boat of what is now known as the Prince of Wales Archipelago in Southeast Alaska.
His are the oldest set of remains found in Alaska and Canada and pushes back the envelope of known human occupation in the region, says E. James Dixon, the principal investigator of the On Your Knees Cave site on Prince of Wales Island.
Only about a dozen bones were found, but Kuwóot yas.éin's pelvis showed he was a male and his still-erupting wisdom teeth showed he was a young man. A small portion of analyzed bone showed this young man was raised on ocean mammals, such as whale and ringed seals, and fish, said Dixon.
Artifacts found with him include spearpoints made of obsidian from Suemez Island and Mount Edziza on the mainland. Since the sea was at the same level or higher during Kuwóot yas.éin's time, the young man's diet and the artifacts suggest his people were skilled boat-handlers and likely had extensive trading routes.
Because Kuwóot yas.éin's people would have to have known the area well enough to retrieve the materials from other locations, Dixon says, "It is possible, and even probable, that people were moving around that area as long ago as 16,000 to 17,000 years ago."
This evidence disputes the first Americans traversed the Pacific Ocean over the Bering land bridge 13,000 years ago and traveled south between receding ice sheets.
Kennewick Man
Kennewick Man had a right arm that could have belonged to pitcher Roger Clemens.
Scientists, who won a federal court fight to study the remains, found his left arm was not shriveled or disabled as an earlier observation suggested. Rather, his right arm was exceptionally developed, probably from using a momentum-mustering atlatl to give his hunting spear more firepower.
The plaintiff scientists' team three times has been to Seattle's Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture to examine the Kennewick Man remains. Team members released results from their preliminary study in February, concluding that Kennewick was deliberately buried parallel to the Columbia River and not covered up by flood waters.
At the last visit in February, a team of 18 scientists, including dental and hand experts, did more extensive, and nondestructive, measuring and study.
When the next release of information will be is uncertain, but it is expected to include some conclusions about what Kennewick Man's diet was through isotope studies of bones left over from a previous court-ordered but limited Department of Interior study.
So far, the plaintiffs' team has not been able to identify the source of the spearpoint in the skeleton's fragile hip. Such information could yield some insight into whether the spearpoint was made from local materials or brought in from farther away. Unfortunately, there's no way to know if the spear injury was made by an enemy or accidental friendly.
A local expert is working with the Washington State Patrol crime lab to see if a way can be found to determine where the material came from, without damaging the bone.
Article: seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/2003226442_sunkuwootweb27.html
Kuwóot yas.éin
Kuwóot yas.éin lived 10,300 years ago, hunting, fishing and plying the channels by boat of what is now known as the Prince of Wales Archipelago in Southeast Alaska.
His are the oldest set of remains found in Alaska and Canada and pushes back the envelope of known human occupation in the region, says E. James Dixon, the principal investigator of the On Your Knees Cave site on Prince of Wales Island.
Only about a dozen bones were found, but Kuwóot yas.éin's pelvis showed he was a male and his still-erupting wisdom teeth showed he was a young man. A small portion of analyzed bone showed this young man was raised on ocean mammals, such as whale and ringed seals, and fish, said Dixon.
Artifacts found with him include spearpoints made of obsidian from Suemez Island and Mount Edziza on the mainland. Since the sea was at the same level or higher during Kuwóot yas.éin's time, the young man's diet and the artifacts suggest his people were skilled boat-handlers and likely had extensive trading routes.
Because Kuwóot yas.éin's people would have to have known the area well enough to retrieve the materials from other locations, Dixon says, "It is possible, and even probable, that people were moving around that area as long ago as 16,000 to 17,000 years ago."
This evidence disputes the first Americans traversed the Pacific Ocean over the Bering land bridge 13,000 years ago and traveled south between receding ice sheets.
Kennewick Man
Kennewick Man had a right arm that could have belonged to pitcher Roger Clemens.
Scientists, who won a federal court fight to study the remains, found his left arm was not shriveled or disabled as an earlier observation suggested. Rather, his right arm was exceptionally developed, probably from using a momentum-mustering atlatl to give his hunting spear more firepower.
The plaintiff scientists' team three times has been to Seattle's Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture to examine the Kennewick Man remains. Team members released results from their preliminary study in February, concluding that Kennewick was deliberately buried parallel to the Columbia River and not covered up by flood waters.
At the last visit in February, a team of 18 scientists, including dental and hand experts, did more extensive, and nondestructive, measuring and study.
When the next release of information will be is uncertain, but it is expected to include some conclusions about what Kennewick Man's diet was through isotope studies of bones left over from a previous court-ordered but limited Department of Interior study.
So far, the plaintiffs' team has not been able to identify the source of the spearpoint in the skeleton's fragile hip. Such information could yield some insight into whether the spearpoint was made from local materials or brought in from farther away. Unfortunately, there's no way to know if the spear injury was made by an enemy or accidental friendly.
A local expert is working with the Washington State Patrol crime lab to see if a way can be found to determine where the material came from, without damaging the bone.
Article: seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/2003226442_sunkuwootweb27.html