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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsKennewick Man Update: New Details Released About 9,000-Year-Old Remains Found in Washington State
He was an immigrant who journeyed far and wide and was well-tested by the elements before his death. He ate seals and other marine mammals. And his 9,000-year-old story was nearly lost forever.
The prehistoric man is known as "Kennewick Man," and his nearly intact skeleton was discovered 18 years ago in eastern Washington state. He was about 5-foot-7 and weighed around 160 pounds, and he broke six of his ribs five of which never healed well before his death, a Washington State University study found.
He was buried "in an extended, prone position, face up, the head slightly higher than the feet, with the chin pressed on the chest, in a grave that was about two and a half feet deep," which kept his bones preserved for millennia, according to the Smithsonian. His remains were found under the water of Lake Wallula, a part of the Columbia River that pooled after the building of the McNary Dam, according to the National Park Service. Erosion from boat traffic was a likely cause of the bones surfacing under different parts of the lake, scientists concluded.
Aside from these revelations, the discovery has brought another key realization to the forefront: Humans arrived in North America far earlier than previously thought.
Details of these findings appear in a new book Kennewick Man: The Scientific Investigation of an Ancient American Skeleton by Douglas Owlsey, the head of physical anthropology at the Smithsonian Institutions National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
"Were realizing there are people getting here much earlier than we thought, and coming using different modes of transportation," Owsley told Fox News.
http://www.weather.com/news/science/kennewick-man-revealed-20141114
dmosh42
(2,217 posts)What made this story so compelling was that he was NOT an Asiatic man, but resembled a person of Nordic features, or at least that was the story I read quite a few years ago. Now, in this report it says he was of Polynesian features? Seems to be very unclear for some reason.
Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)He took a different route than I thought apparently though. I thought he went near Hawaii then up towards Alaska and then down the coast. He was rather well travelled, I wonder if he was an early trader. The report didn't say how old he was and I forget, but I have told people for years that the estimates of people arriving in North America only 11,000 years to 15,000 years ago were way off. They thought I was nuts. Well I am, but I can read maps and history a bit, so there is that.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,361 posts)Especially 'with the chin pressed on the chest'? If you're prone, you're face down, lying on your chest.
This 2012 book, also written by Owsley, says he was on his back: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=M_KXAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA112&lpg=PA112&dq=%22kennewick+man%22+%22burial+position%22&source=bl&ots=uwqQ1fj6mY&sig=NoOtOVxLGv4VdDmXVVVZlRD7qr4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=WWNnVM7XNY2VaLi8gJgF&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=%22kennewick%20man%22%20%22burial%20position%22&f=false
And this says the new book also says supine, not prone:
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=119979384687950&story_fbid=831504140202134&_fb_noscript=1
But that links to the same Smithsonian article that the Weather Channel used as its source, and that Smithsonian artilce is what says 'prone position, faceup'. Can't they get the description straight?
Ah: further Googling turns up:
In The 9,000-Year-Old Man Speaks, we mischaracterized the position that Kennewick man was buried in. It was supine, not prone.
Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/magazine/discussion-october-2014-180952806