In 1996, two men came across a human skull on the Columbia River in Washington State. Researchers combed the area and found an entire skeleton. What they found also surprised the hell out of them.
The skeleton was seen to be very old (8000 to 9500 years ago), but Caucasian in features. Because it was found on federal land, it is under the protection of the US Army Corp of Engineers. They are being held in the Burke Museum in Washington. Interestingly, the museum neither is in on the research of them nor does it publicly display the remains.
On perhaps one of the most brilliant moves, a judge found them to not be Native American remains to be repatriated to the Native Americans of the area. Researchers and Natives continue to fight this debate. The book "Their Skeletons Speak: Kennewick Man and the Paleoamerican World" by Sally Walker and Douglas Owsley is all about this amazing find.
DNA testing to prove if they were or were not belonging to a Native, were inconclusive because of the age of the specimen. Study of the skeleton and skull found it to be Ainu. It would seem the consensus is this was a traveler from Japan that ended up there. I find this to be extremely accurate because I already have a theory that a tribe found in Nevada in the early 1900s that did not look native was actually Ainu descent -
(Nevada tribe on left - Ainu on right)
We really don't seem to have a clue in mainstream education about our origins or the limit of man in what we deemed "ancient times." We seem to have mental blocks about arrival here to America before Columbus or other tribes, ancient giants, other countries coming here.
Even if they have the Kennewick man squirreled away and are arguing over his fate, It is reassuring to know that more and more the evidence is accruing that we cannot deny - there were many people in this land from many origins.
Even if Kennewick man remains in No Man's Land indefinitely, there are more of these "others" to be found. The bigger obstacle now is whether or not there should have to be genetic proof that finds are Native American before handing them over to tribes. It would seem that there were a lot of others visiting here.
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