The Kennewick Man Controversy

The Kennewick firearm Controversy has been an issue debated among scientists and the Umatilla tribe. The debates focused on the question of who should take possession and immediate possession of a human skull found at the ring of the bank of the Columbia River. Archaeologists argued for a right to study the human skull, do the legal battle to stretch for several years until scientists were allowed to study the Kennewick part.The discovery of the skull paved the way for realizing the urgent shoot for archaeological compendium and gave rise to certain ethical contentions which drew the lines between scientific and ethnical pursuits. In this paper, I argue that archaeological study is an immediate need that should overcome certain ethical and cultural considerations for a specific duration. there be scientific limitations and ethical issues raised by the debates over the Kennewick Man. Scientists contestation for the right to study the human skull be limited by an real law of the United States the Native the Statesn Graves and Repatriation Act.Also, once scientists argon permitted to study the human skull, their studys length will be limited not only by their scientific tools nevertheless too by the engages of the Umatilla tribe to take possession of the body the soonest viable time. One of the allows of the scientific study conducted reveals that the Kennewick Man did not fit either of the modern classifications of race and that more is yet to be known close the identity of the human skull (Fiedel, p. 86). As far as ethical issues are concerned, the controversy has stirred the delicate balance between the importance of scientific research and the respect for cultural beliefs.The major point raised by the archaeologiststhat the human skull needed archaeological analysis in say to operate the puzzlecame in conflict with the contention of the Umatilla tribe, which is that they have a deed of conveyance to the bones and, therefore, it is only p roper to repatriate the bones to them. On close set(predicate) inspection, the granting of the permission of the archaeologists does not necessarily imply the higher significance of scientific analysis over the cultural rights of the Umatilla tribe in general.Permitting archaeologists to examine the dust only signify that there is an urgent need to study the in straitened circumstances(p) material. The fact that the law forces the scientists to return the artifacts after examination signifies that, in the keen-sighted run, the ethical considerations for the cultural rights of the Umatilla tribe still weighs more than scientific pursuits. Elizabeth Weiss argues that the demand to bury aboriginal skeletons, not only in America but also around the world, poses a potentially serious impediment to scientific inquiry (Weiss, p.13), to which I fully agree. While we should consider the cultural rights of indigene groups to their heritage and cultural property, the examination of archae ological findings to expand the human pinch of human civilizations evolution is likewise a operative thing to consider. Legal arrangements can be made in order to preserve the integrity of the drawn material during archaeological analysis chthonian a prescribed length of time and to guarantee the claimants of the nasal mud that they will have possession of the object after the study.To this day, modern scientists are still seeking the humble beginnings of humanity through what is little that remains of it, from aboriginal skeletons to historical objects. When archaeologists and the larger body of scientists across the world are prevented from examining such materials from the past, there is reason to believe that it will similarly strip down future generations of knowing and understanding the past.The greatest threat is when these objects eventually shrink buried in time, forgotten and never to be seen again the result is catastrophic because humanity will have no reason to climbing attempts to study human history. James Chatters also writes that most of the analyses and interpretations about the peopling of America and where the immigrants came from are limited by the tiny sample of ancient skeletal material (Chatters, p. 291).Thus, scientists should not be deprived of studying ancient skeletal materials once they are found. The more objects we can study, the more we can reveal a hidden history and the more we can know and explicate how human civilization has evolved. Cultural concerns should not be abandoned, yet the primacy of scientific study should also compel us to at least forefend our ethical judgments for a moment and allow science to aid us understand our world.Bibliography Chatters, James C. The Recovery and First Analysis of an Early Holocene human beings Skeleton from Kennewick, Washington. American Antiquity 65. 2 (2000) 291-316. Fiedel, Stuart J. The Kennewick Follies New Theories About the Peopling of the Americas. journal of Anthr opological Research 60. 1 (2004) 75-110. Weiss, Elizabeth. Kennewick Mans Funeral The Burying of Scientific Evidence. Politics and the demeanor Sciences 20. 1 (2001) 13-18.