No Bone Unturned : : the Adventures of a top Smithsonian Forensic Scientist and the Legal Battle for America's Oldest Skeletons
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Interesting Biography
submitted by sdunav on July 2, 2013, 1:08pm
The subtitle of this book is really misleading...it is partially a biography of a Smithsonian archaeologist and human bone specialist Doug Owsley, with short chapters on some of his work at Waco and in Guatemala, and partially an account of the lawsuit he & several other anthropologists were involved in over the right to study Kennewick Man, a 9600 y.o. skeleton found eroding out of the Columbia River in Washington state.
In 1990, a law called NAGPRA (Native American Grave Protection & Repatriation Act) was passed, allowing Indian tribes in the US to claim human remains & other sacred objects that are related to their tribe to claim them for religious ceremonies, reburial, etc. The problem with Kennewick Man is that it is so old that it cannot be directly linked to any living tribes - especially without studying it, which a coalition of tribes from that part of WA did not want to allow.
The press has framed this mainly as a battle between Indian traditionalists and scientists, but the book shows some interesting insights into different govt. departments and political reasons for the battle. My only complaint is that Owsley is portrayed in such a fawning manner...the author just went a little overboard in the hero worship department. Not that Owsley doesn't deserve it, from everything I've heard, but it detracted from the book.
Although Owsley and his co-defendants did win the case in 2002, and they got to study the skeleton, the whole question of "who owns the past" is still being hotly debated.
PUBLISHED
New York : HarperCollins, c2003.
Year Published: 2003
Description: xii, 304 p., [8] p. of plates ; 24 cm.
Language: English
Format: Book
ISBN/STANDARD NUMBER
0060199237 :
SUBJECTS
Owsley, Douglas W.
Forensic osteology.
Kennewick Man.
Human remains (Archaeology) -- Repatriation -- Washington (State)
Cultural property -- Repatriation.
Indians -- Origin.
Indians of North America -- Collection and preservation.
Washington (State) -- Antiquities.