Tensions between science and culture: the Kennewick Man case

Kennewick Man

Certainly it is important to honor the cultural heritage of the past; however there is a limit to the amount of restitution that needs to be repaid to cultures. In the article "Antiquities, the World is your Homeland," author Edward Rothstein (2008) explains that throughout the world countries are demanding a return of their ancient artifacts to the homeland, the land of their origin. The problem with this is that many of the ancient cultures do not exist anymore. For example, Greece has demanded a return of anything Greek which has left the country, but modern Greece is as far removed from Ancient Greece as Great Britain is removed from the time of the Norman Conquest. It is a wholly new civilization with little resemblance to the ancient state. Yet, the country demands that since it has the same name and occupies some of the same land, they are still the same. If these dictums are allowed to continue it will not only be ancient artifacts and antiquities which are demanded to be repatriated, but modern artifacts as well. In the case of the Kennewick Man, the Umatilla tribe of Native Americans claimed the skeleton as theirs and was allowed to bury it without providing any evidence. Historically, it is not even proven that the Umatilla were in the region at the time of the skeleton's life, more than 9,000 years ago. Scientists had to prove genetically and anthropologically that the skeleton could not have been a member of that tribe, a process that took them more than a decade. During that period, years of research and investigation were lost; millions of dollars had to be spent on legal action as well as scientific experimentation. This has proven true in other similar cases as well, like with the UCSD case and the Kumeyaay Tribe. In that case, although DNA has not been able to disprove a connection, they have been able to prove that the Kumeyaays did not move into the region at the time that the skeleton would have been alive and that they Kumeyaays traditionally cremated their dead which cast a serious doubt on their claim. This issue is bigger than a few skeletons; it is basically about what matters more, the individual cultures of a land or a people or the greater understanding of the world and its history which can be understood only through scientific inquiry and investigation.

Learning from Our Mistakes:

In addition to the current rules which regulate the scientific method, there are additional criteria which should be added to ensure that scientific investigation and inquiry is conducted in a moral and ethical way. First, a question should be asked when conducting an experiment. Is the hypothesis being tested or the research being conducted potentially beneficial to mankind? If the benefit is nil and the potential for violence or suffering is great, then a course of inquiry should be abandoned. Secondly, if the intention of an investigation is good and for the benefit of mankind but the potential for weaponization or danger to humanity is probable, then the line of inquiry should also be abandoned. If research can provide answers to questions which we do not yet understand, then it is worthy of investigation, but if it is merely to confirm what is already established to be true then the costs vs. benefits must be more strictly regarded than if the answers are as yet unknown.