Riddle of the Bones by Roger Downey, 2000This is a book which definitely takes one side in a very po
Riddle of the Bones by Roger Downey, 2000This is a book which definitely takes one side in a very polarised issue, regarding both the identity and ownership of the skeleton now known as Kennewick Man. It happens that since publication it has proved to be right as far as identity is concerned (more modern DNA analysis has shown that the skeleton is most closely related to modern Native American populations - wikipedia has a good update). As to the ownership - should scientists or local Native communities get to decide what happens with ancient human remains? This book is in favour of native communities getting to make the choice, making the very good point that museums had ancient American skeletons in storage for decades without making any study of them - they only suddenly became interested in actually getting down to doing any science when Native communities started demanding them back for burial. I found this both highly readable, and that I am very much inclined to take the author’s view on the controversy. For balance, one of the anthropologists who was involved in the discovery and took the totally opposite view wrote a book at around the same time - Ancient Encounters: Kennewick Man and the First Americans - if you want to read the other side. -- source link
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