On May 15, the University of Washington will host a celebration of the return of the human remains known to the general public as Kennewick Man. To the tribal coalition (Yakama, Umatilla, Nez Perce, Colville and Wanapum tribes) who successfully argued that the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) mandated his repatriation to his descendants and interment in a traditional ceremony, he is The Ancient One.
Women from the Confederated Tribes appealing for the repatriation of The Anceint One (PHOTOGRAPH BY WILLIAM ALBERT ALLARD, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE)
In previous posts, I have related the story of his “discovery,” the decades-long arguments about his ethnicity, and how DNA evidence just released last year confirmed that he is an ancestor of the the indigenous peoples of the Columbia River basin (see “The Ancient One”). Even after this confirmation, however, he remained locked in a vault, awaiting the final legal ruling that would return him to his people. In February of this year, some 200 members of the tribes who fought for his return buried him in a private ceremony at an undisclosed location in the Columbia Basin.
