Riddle of the Bones: Politics, Science, Race, and the Story of Kennewick Man

Journalist Roger Downey, a Seattle Weekly journalist, vividly recounts the remarkable story of "Kennewick Man," the ongoing controversy over the discovery of a 9,000-year-old "Caucasoid-like" skeleton where no one expected to find one—in the Pacific Northwest. Downey has conduct ed scores of interviews with the scientists and others in the controve rsy, giving us a brilliantly written, riveting account of the battles among Native American groups, the U.S. government, and archaeologists over control of the bones and the interpretation of the past. The auth or uses this story, and controversies over other recent finds, to expl ore the fascinating changes that are occurring in scientific interpret ation of the peopling of the Americas and in the practice of modern ar chaeology. The Riddle of the Bones forces us to reconsider what we kno w of America's first settlers and who can legitimately lay claim to th e artifacts and interpretation of our past.