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‘Kennewick Man’ researcher to speak at FLC

Smithsonian anthropologist to give keynote at conference
Dr. Doug Owsley, left, of the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution, arranges pieces from the model of the “Kennewick Man” for a presentation for the media at University Towers in 2005 in Seattle. Owsley will visit Durango on Saturday to take part in the Colorado Archaeological Society’s conference.

Age, diet, occupation, health, physical size and stature are just a few of the stories that can be told by skeletal remains.

Dr. Doug Owsley will speak firsthand to that when he delivers the keynote address at the Colorado Archaeological Society conference on Saturday.

Owsley, 25-year division head for physical anthropology at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, is a forensic anthropologist probably best known for his often-contentious research – and advocacy for scientists’ right to research – of the 9,300-year-old skeleton known as the “Kennewick Man.”

The skeleton was discovered in 1996 when two college students wading along the Columbia River in Washington state happened upon the skull. It is one of the oldest and most debated skeletons ever found in the Americas, and its story came to light last year when Owsley and coauthor Richard L. Jantz released the nearly 700-page Kennewick Man: The Scientific Investigation of an Ancient American Skeleton, which will be the highlight of Saturday’s address.

Owsley’s resume includes assisting identify remains of Jeffrey Dahmer’s first victim, the victims of the Sept. 11 Pentagon plane crash and Waco Branch Davidian compound members. He has spent much of his time working contemporary police investigations, but some of the same principles apply when researching remains more than 9,000 years old. For example, starting points with both studies are to determine age, sex and details about health.

In all cases, a desire to tell a story about the deceased drives forensic and anthropological research, Owsley said in a Tuesday interview with The Durango Herald. “I’m essentially speaking for a person that can’t speak for themselves.”

From diet, anthropologists can determine where someone was from, if they traveled and how they obtained food. Though Owsley’s research has been argued, he maintains a theory that the Paleoamerican was migrating from the north.

“I’m convinced by the comparison with diet, animals and knowing how that translates into bone chemistry and the human skeleton,” Owsley said. “That’s compared with other human populations and what their diets are like.”

Old age is one of the most nuanced characteristics and therefore one of the most difficult to determine in forensics and archaeology.

“It’s not so difficult to tell whether a person is a child, teenager or young adult,” Owsley said. “But the difficulty in telling a 35-year-old from a 45- or 55-year-old is increasingly complex.”

Technology to uncover anthropological history is constantly advancing, but the initial research starts with the eyes, Owsley said.

“We use CT scanning and look at the condition of the bones and muscles, which can tell us a great deal about an individual’s activities,” Owsley said. “That has a bearing on a person’s diet, their teeth, whether they were a hunter and how they went about hunting.”

Details of Kennewick Man’s life were more easily accessible than those of his death; lingering questions deal with context, such as whether he was intentionally buried and how he was positioned.

Owsley is saving other details for his presentation at the 80th annual archaeology conference.

“Most are not aware of the wealth of information you can obtain from a human skeleton,” he said. “There is nothing in the archaeological record that can tell you more about a past people than an opportunity to learn from the skeleton itself.”

jpace@durangoherald.com

If you go

Doug Owsley, a forensic anthropologist known for his often-contentious research of the 9,300-year-old skeleton known as the “Kennewick Man,” will attend the Colorado Archaeological Society Conference, which will be held from 8:15 a.m.-4:15 p.m. Saturday at the Fort Lewis College Ballroom. Owlsey is slated to speak at 7:30 p.m. following the conference dinner. The cost is $25 per person to attend the banquet and hear the keynote address; $10 without dinner. Visit www.coloradoarchaeologicalsociety.org for registration information.



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