The 8,500-year-old remains of the Kennewick Man, which was first discovered by archeologists nearly 20 years ago in the Columbia River in Washington, has long been a subject of debate among anthropologists and Native Americans. While anthropologists and scientists believe that the remains should be accessible to them for research purposes, the Native Americans insists that the Kennewick is their ancestor and must be accorded a proper burial.
The experts argue that the remains did not have similar features as the native tribe, but with that of Siberian or Polynesian dweller. Hence they rejected the Native American's claims. But a new genetic analysis may change all that, as a DNA sample has indeed shown that the Kennewick Man's genetic code is actually comparable to the native people.
The latest findings was published on the Nature journal this week.
"The first important question we tried to address was to what contemporary population is Kennewick Man most closely related to. And it is very clear that the genome sequence shows he is most closely related to contemporary Native Americans," said Eske Willerslev, one of the authors of the study, according to the BBC.
"In fact we also got Ainu genome-wide data from a Japanese chief and we also had Polynesian (data) for comparison, as well as what is available across the world, and Kennewick Man did not show any significance in terms of having more Ainu or Polynesian DNA than other contemporary Native Americans," the professor added. "From that perspective, I think we can conclude very clearly he is most clearly related to contemporary Native Americans."
The professor also said that the Kennewick Man's DNA is closely linked to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, one of the many tribes making its claim. They refer to the Kennewick Man as Ancient One.
"We have maintained the belief that the Ancient One is, in fact, one of us, so we've never strayed from that theory. So it is good news," said Jim Boyd, the chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, via Washinton Post. Theirs was the only group that provided their own DNA sample. The study's limitation was that it didn't have samples of the other tribes.
Doug Owsley, an anthropologist from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History said, "The results do not tie Kennewick Man exclusively to the Colville," according to Fox News. "His people were coming from somewhere else. We don't know who that people (were), we don't know what their culture was," Owsley added.
The skeletal remains are still housed at the Burke Museum in the University of Washington, a neutral ground, where they are being closely guarded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, according to BBC. The group will be reviewing the findings of Willerslev's study to determine whether or not the bones should be turned over to the rightful owner.
