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Science
Friday > Archives
> 2000
> April
> April 28, 2000:
Hour Two: Skull Wars / Young Cow Clones
| In the summer of 1996, two college students literally stumbled
across a human skull while standing on a riverbank watching a hydroplane
race. Thinking that they had discovered a murder victim, they notified
the police, who called in a forensic anthropologist to investigate.
The anthropologist, James Chatters, classified the bones as "Caucasoid,"
and theorized that they were the bones of an early settler. But
then Chatters noticed the tip of a stone spearpoint embedded in
the hip of the skeleton, later named "Kennewick Man." He sent
a small sample of bone to be carbon-dated, and received a surprising
result: the bones were over 9,000 years old. And that set off a
frenzy of attention and controversy in the scientific community
-- and elsewhere. |
Skull assembly. WPA image.
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The Kennewick Man skeleton became the center of a heated battle between
scientists and tribal leaders. Using a federal law known as NAGPRA (the
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act) local Native
American tribes sued for possession of the remains. Today, the remains
are in the possession of the Burke Museum at the University of Washington.
Limited studies of the bones, including DNA testing, continue.
The Kennewick Man controversy is just one example of the conflicts
between anthropologists and local cultures. In a new book, Skull
Wars, anthropologist David Hurst Thomas looks at the history of
anthropological and archaeological research, including many of the less-than-ethical
things that have been done to native cultures in the name of science.
Another book recently re-released, Give
Me My Father's Body by Kenn Harper, tells the story of Minik,
an Eskimo, who was brought to New York by polar explorer Robert Peary
at the turn of the century. What rights do cultures have to resist scientific
study -- and should scientists have the ability to study people who
don't want to be studied? On this hour of Science Friday, we'll
take a look at the history -- and ethics -- of anthropology.
Plus -- new cloning news just out. A study published this week in the
journal Science says that some cows produced by cloning appear to be
younger than they ought to be.
| When the lamb clone Dolly was born, many scientists
said that she might prematurely age. Her telomeres, caps on the
ends of the chromosomes that get shorter each time a cell divides,
were shorter than a normal newborn lamb. But in the new study, scientists
found that cells from the cow clones show signs of being younger
than cells from normal cows of the same age, and in some cases even
younger than cells from newborn calves. The authors say that they're
not sure how this happens, or if it will mean longer life for the
six cloned cows. We'll talk to one of the researchers about what
their findings might mean. |
These cloned cows have unusually young cells.
(Advanced Cell Technologies image)
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Guests:
David Hurst Thomas
Author,
"Skull Wars: Kennewick Man, Archeology, and the Battle for Native American
Identity" (Basic Books, 2000)
Founding Trustee
National Museum of the American Indian
Curator, Anthropology
American Museum of Natural History
New York, New York
Kenn Harper
Author,
"Give
Me My Father's Body : The Life of Minik, the New York Eskimo" (Steerforth
Pr, 2000.)
Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada
Michael West
President and CEO
Advanced Cell Technologies
Worcester, Massachusetts
Books/Articles Discussed:
Related Links:
Smithsonian:
Kennewick Man
Burke
Museum: The Idea of Race
Burke
Museum: Kennewick Man Home Page
Tri-City
Herald's Kennewick Man Virtual Interpretive Center
ArchNet
- Cultural Protection: NAGPRA text
National Park Service: Kennewick Man
Produced By: Annette Heist
Web Producer: Charles
Bergquist
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