|
|
Amerindian groups initially claimed the remains as theirs, and demanded reburial by traditional means. Eventually only the Umatilla tribe continued legal proceedings. In 2004, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that a link between the Amerindian tribes and the skeleton was not established, opening the door for further scientific study of the remains.
Anthropologist Joseph Powell of the University of New Mexico eventually examined Kennewick man more thoroughly than previously permitted, his conclusions contradicted previous findings . The Kennewick Man was in fact not European but more closely resembled Pacific Islanders and the Ainu people of northeast Asia, not Amerindians or Caucasians. [*3]
Twentieth Century textbooks agreed on the hypothesis that hunter-gatherers migrated across the hypothetical Bering Strait land bridge. While some still adhere to this hypothesis, other scientists speculate that there were numerous waves of migration to the Americas.
Variant races discovered among ancient skeletal remains support this theory. Kennewick Man was an individual representative of one of the multiple races that roamed America in antiquity. Evidence of other migrations to America exists in The Fuegians, a people indigenous to the furthest point in the Americas - Tierra del Fuego at the tip of South America.
Spirit Cave Mummy
Spirit Cave Man lived into his mid-40s. He had broken his right hand, suffered back pain from arthritis, herniated disks and a fractured spine. A blow to the left temple dented and cracked his skull, which was starting to heal when he died.
He was buried in a shallow grave dug in a desert cave. The cave's climate preserved some of his skin and reddish-brown hair. He is North America's oldest mummy, although not the oldest Human remains.
He and his clan lived in a marsh at the edges of a receding lake, later to be known as Lake Lahonthan, the same lake which lovelock cave of the Sitecah bordered on [*4]. He was not of the same racial stock as the Amerindian and is probably an ancestor, or, of the same stock as the si-te-cah, although he does not share their great stature.
Like the Si te Cah giants, the spirit cave mummy is believed to be of Ainu and or Caucasoid Stock.
Wizards Beach Man
Wizard's Beach man, was found in 1978 when a prolonged drought had lowered the level of Pyramid Lake northeast of Reno. The discovery site is about 100 miles from Spirit Cave. Extensive information is not readily available on Wizards Beach man primarily due to disputes with tribal groups but he is beleived to be of the same racial stock as the Spirit Cave Mummy.
Gordon Creek Woman
Discovered in 1965, the Gordon Creek woman had a relatively small face with a distinctive alveolar prognathism, a trait more common in Westerners {European and African} rather than in Amerindians. She is hypothesized to be the same race as Kennewick Man. [*4]
* { Prognathism is a term used to describe the position of the mandible and/or maxilla to the skeletal base where either of the jaws protrudes beyond a predetermined imaginary line in the sagittal plane of the skull.
Penon Woman
"Scientists in Britain have identified the oldest skeleton ever found on the American continent in a discovery that raises fresh questions about the accepted theory of how the first people arrived in the New World. The skeleton's perfectly preserved skull belonged to a 26-year-old woman who died during the last ice age on the edge of a giant prehistoric lake which once formed around an area now occupied by the sprawling suburbs of Mexico City." Steve Connor University Texas
In December 2002, it was announced that a skeleton from Mexico City's National Museum of Anthropology , had been identified as more than being approximately 13,000 years old - the oldest skeleton yet found in the Americas. [*6]
The long faced skull was what attracted the attention of scientists, as the Amerind population has broad Mongolian shape skulls. Scientists speculated that the skull was possibly of Ainu extraction, like the Kennewick Man.
The skull and skeleton of Penon woman unearthed in 1959 is speculated to be about 5,000 years.
"The museum knew that the remains were of significant historical value but they hadn't been scientifically dated," Stated the Museums Dr Gonzalez. "I decided to analyse small bone samples from five skeletons using the latest carbon dating techniques. I think everyone was amazed at how old they were," she said.
Blonde Eskimos & The "Mummy People" of Alaska
"Alaska's Mummy people belonged to a prehistoric ethnic group inhabiting the Aleutian Islands from 7,000 years ago until historic times. There were still a few members of this mysterious race surviving in the Western Most Alaskan Islands when the Russians arrived in 1741. The Aleuts who inhabit the Alaska at the present time are a mixture of Eskimos ... and the distinctly different "Mummy" People. [*2]
The origin of the long dead Mummy people is unknown.. Few Archaeologists have studied their remains ... some scientists remark on resemblance to the ancient Ainu." [*1]
"Speculation arose that people of the group ancestral to the Ainu may have been among the first to settle North America. This theory is based largely on skeletal and cultural evidence among tribes living in the western part of North America ... It is possible that North America had several peoples among its early settlers and that the Ainu may have been one of them, perhaps even the first. The best-known example supporting this theory is probably Kennewick Man."
Groundbreaking genetic mapping studies by Cavalli-Sforza have shown a sharp gradient in gene frequencies centered in the area around the Sea of Japan, and particularly in the Japanese Archipelago, that distinguishes these populations from others in the rest of eastern Asia and most of the American continent. [*8]" - Wikipedia
In 1912 an expedition discovered white Inuit with red hair and blue eyes and implements which led to the belief that they may be descendants of old Norse Vikings who visited North America from 1000 onward.[*9]
Reports of Blond Eskimos go back as far as 1656, when a Dutch trading vessel traveled west from Greenland across the Davis Strait towards Baffin Island. Nicholas Tunes, the captain of the vessel, claimed sighting two distinct races, the first being the brown skinned Inuit, but the second being a tall, fair-skinned people.[*7]
Footnotes and References
1. DNA Enters Dust Up over Bones Ann Gibbons-Sciencemag- October 11, 1996
2. Discovering the Mysteries of Ancient America Pg. 103
3. Report on the Osteological Assessment of the "Kennewick Man" Skeleton
5. Gordon Creek Woman Meets Spirit Cave Man: A Response to Comment by Owsley and Jantz
6. Human skulls are 'oldest Americans BBC News Dec. 2002
7. Eskimos and Explorers (Second Edition)
8. Genes, Peoples, and Languages
9. Origin of Stefanssons Blond Eskimo