Riddle of the Bones: Politics, Science, Race, and the Story of Kennewick Man [Hardcover]

From its discovery in the Columbia River three years ago, reporter Roger Downey has chronicled the epic adventures of the skeleton called Kennewick Man : first as a pretext for a media feeding-frenzy, then as the centerpiece of a legal circus pitting celebrated scientists against Native Americans, the Corps of Engineers, and the Clinton White House, finally, at long last, as an object of rational scientific study.
The saga of Kennewick Man offers abundant opportunity to explore today's rapidly-changing scientific theories about how the Americas first came to be settled, and by whom. But it also casts much light on the deep divisions within the fields of anthropology and archeology concerning the role of politics and race in the pursuit of scientific goals, what constitutes ethical procedure in dealing with ancient human remains and living individuals, and the very purpose and direction of the scientific enterprise itself.
With an easy style that keeps you hooked from beginning to end, Downey describes the major players in this continuing debate and details the controversial scientific, religious, and political arguments surrounding Kennewick Man.Roger Downey takes us to the center of the controversies over Kennewick Man, the surprising 9,000-year-old Caucasoid-like skeleton, and the interpretation of when and where the Americas were first settled. THE RIDDLE OF THE BONES, vividly told by a Seattle Weekly journalist who has covered the story from the first dicoveries in the Pacific Northwest, forces us to reconsider what we know of America's first settlers and who can legitimately lay claim to the artifacts and interpretation of our past.