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Gordon Creek Woman Meets Kennewick Man: New Interpretations and Protocols Regarding the Peopling of the Americas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Alan Swedlund  and
Duane Anderson
Alan Swedlund
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Amherst, MA 01003-4805
Duane Anderson
Affiliation:
School of American Research, PO Box 2188, Santa Fe, NM 87504
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Abstract

Recent discoveries—particularly those of Kennewick Man—have renewed debates on the peopling of the Americas. Our vantage point comes from research on the Gordon Creek Burial which commenced some 30 years ago. We suggest that a contrast between the conditions under which Gordon Creek and Kennewick were recovered and analyzed provides insights into current interpretations and controversies. Specifically, we argue that bioarchaeologists cannot, and therefore should not, separate the sociopolítical issues from the scientific, that biological assignments of affiliation are extremely problematic in such cases, and that prior assumptions figure strongly in the interpretations presented. If more detailed understanding of the peopling of the Americas is a common goal, then we as bioarchaeologists must be prepared to reexamine our practices and learn from our mistakes.

Résumé

Résumé

Descubrimientos recientes, especialmente los relacionados con el Hombre de Kennewick, han renovado debates sobre elpoblamiento de las Américas. Nuestra perspectiva parte de investigaciones empezadas hace unos treinta años sobre el Entierro de Gordon Creek. Proponemos que existe un contraste entre las condiciones en que se recobraron y se analizaron Gordon Creek y Kennewick y que este contraste aporta nuevas perspectivas para las interpretaciones y controversias actuales. Concretamente, proponemos que los bioarqueólogos no deben ni pueden separar los aspectos sociopolíticos de lo científico, que la asignación de afiliación biológica es extremamente problemática en estos casos, y que las suposiciones tienen un papel muy importante en las interpretaciones ofrecidas hasta hoy. Si nuestro objetivo es elde llegar a tener un conocimiento más detallado del poblamiento de las Américas, los bioarqueólogos tenemos que estarpreparado para examinar de nuevo nuestras prácticas y aprender de nuestros errores.

Type
Forum
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 64 , Issue 4 , October 1999 , pp. 569 - 576
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1999

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