12 Facts About Kennewick Man

Kennewick Man became the subject of a controversial nine-year court case between the United States Army Corps of Engineers, scientists, and Native American tribes who claimed ownership of the remains.

In June 2015, it was made public that scientists at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark determined through DNA from 8,500-year-old bones that Kennewick Man is, in fact, related to modern Native Americans, including the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation from the region in which his bones were found.

Analysis showed that Kennewick Man is "very closely related to the Colville" tribe in northeast Washington.

Kennewick Man was found to be right-handed, as the bones of the right arm are noticeably larger than the left.

Powell said that Kennewick Man was not European but most resembled the Ainu and Polynesians.

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In 2005, a 10-day examination of the skeleton, led by forensic anthropologist Douglas Owsley, revealed that Kennewick Man had arthritis in his right elbow, both of his knees, and several vertebrae but not severe enough to be crippling.

The Jomon people and Kennewick Man are thought by the authors to share common ancestors among seafaring peoples of coastal Asia with similar craniofacial characteristics.

The lack of genomes from North American aboriginal populations have made it impossible to ascertain Kennewick Man's nearest living relatives among regional Native American tribes.

Regardless of the debate over whether there were more than one source of migration following the LGM, Kennewick Man has yielded insight into the marine lifestyle and mobility of early coastal migrants.

Third, Owsley's non-Native argument hinged on the assumption that Kennewick Man's skull was a reliable means of assessing ancestry.

In light of the findings that Kennewick Man is related to present-day Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest, public officials such as Governor Jay Inslee and Senator Patty Murray called on the Corps of Engineers, who retained possession of Kennewick Man, to return the remains to Native American tribes.

James Chatters, the first anthropologist to examine the skull of Kennewick man, said that it lacked the "definitive characteristics of the classic Mongoloid stock to which modern Native Americans belong", adding that many of the characteristics of the skull "are definitive of modern-day Caucasoid peoples".