Mystery of 9,300-year-old skeleton probed

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SEATTLE, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- A 9,300-year-old skeleton unearthed on the banks of the Columbia River was probably a visitor to central Washington, not a longtime inhabitant, researchers say.

Anthropologist Douglas Owsley of the Smithsonian Institution says the so-called Kennewick Man, considered one of North America's earliest inhabitants, probably came from the coast, not the arid inland valley where his remains were found, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.

The ancient bones unearthed in 1996 were the subject of a decade-long court fight over whether central Washington American Indian tribes had claim to the remains for reburial, the Times said.

"I felt it was important to have a meeting with the tribes of the Columbia Basin that are especially interested -- it's their homeland territory, and they feel very deep connections and roots," said Owsley, who met this week with tribal leaders from the Columbia Plateau region. "I felt it of vital importance that I have a face-to-face meeting and give them an overview as to what the scientific evidence was telling us."

The conclusions about Kennewick Man's origin are important in the quest to understand where the now-famous Paleoamerican came from and who his descendants might be, researchers said.