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Early Man in America
BY MICHAEL D. LEMONICK AND ANDREA DORFMAN
TIME FOR KIDS MAGAZINE * MARCH 17, 2006
Two college students found the skull on a bank of the Columbia River near Kennewick,
Washington, in the summer of 1996. Later, more bones were recovered. They looked old.
Scientists were surprised to learn just how old they really were. Tests show that the
skeleton, which came to be known as Kennewick Man, is 9,400 years old. It is among the
oldest and most complete skeletons ever found in the Americas. Only about 50 skeletons
that old have ever been found there.
Scientists were eager to study Kennewick Man. But for about nine years, the bones were
caught in a tug-of-war between Indian tribes, the U.S. government, which owns the land
where the bones were found, and scientists. The Indian tribes wanted the skeleton treated
with respect and reburied. They claimed the bones under the Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act. A group of researchers sued for the right to examine the
bones. Last summer, scientists got to study Kennewick Man for just 10 days. Now, the
results are in.
What the Bones Reveal
Douglas Owsley of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, in
Washington, D.C., led the scientific team that examined the skeleton. The researchers were
able to make strong guesses about what Kennewick Man looked like. They suspect that he
was about 38 years old when he died. He stood about 5 feet 9 inches tall, was fairly
muscular and was right-handed. He had suffered several injuries, including a spear jab to
his hip. "The injury looks healed," Owsley told TIME.
Nothing in the bones showed what caused the man's death. The most surprising discovery:
Someone buried Kennewick Man deliberately. Scientists can tell that he was lying on his
back with his feet rolled slightly outward and his arms at his sides.
Still, the bones have many more secrets to reveal. Researchers say further tests may show
what killed Kennewick Man and even what he ate. "We can tell if he ate nothing but plants,
predominantly meat or a mixture of the two," says team member Thomas Stafford.
Who Discovered America
Kennewick Man may help scientists solve mysteries about where the earliest Americans
came from and when they got here. Archaeologists (ar-kee-ah-luh-jists) are scientists who
study ancient people and artifacts. For decades, they believed that the earliest Americans
arrived from Asia about 12,000 years ago. According to this theory, ancient people walked
across dry land that once connected what is now Russia with Alaska. From there, the
theory goes, they made their way south.
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But discoveries since the 1980s are pushing that idea aside. Recent finds at Monte Verde,
Chile, and Daisy Cave, California (see map on page 4), suggest that bands of people moved
down the Pacific coast of North and South America much earlier than 12,000 years ago.
Artifacts discovered in South Carolina have led a few archaeologists to say that early
Americans might even have arrived on the Atlantic Coast from Europe.
Unanswered Questions
Did ancient people travel down the coasts of the continents to settle in North and South
America? Could prehistoric Asians have sailed directly across the Pacific Ocean? Or were
there waves of travelers from many places along a variety of different routes? Only by
studying ancient sites and the bones of ancient people like Kennewick Man will these
questions be answered.
Think!
1. Who should own ancient bones, scientists or the people who own the land where they
were found? Explain.
2. Which paragraph would you read to find out why scientists had to wait to study
Kennewick Man?
A.
B.
C.
D.
first
second
third
fourth
3. Why were scientists excited about the discovery of Kennewick Man?
A.
B.
C.
D.
They learned what foods early man ate.
The skeleton was one of the oldest ever found in the Americas.
It proved a theory about how early man came to North and South America.
The skeleton was one of many found along the Columbia River.
4. What was the most surprising discovery about Kennewick Man?
A.
B.
C.
D.
He
He
He
He
traveled by boat to North America.
was right-handed.
was buried by others.
was about 38 years old when he died.
5. Archaeologists are scientists who study:
A.
B.
C.
D.
ancient people and artifacts.
how people live in groups.
how animals migrate.
why people buy certain products.
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