Modern Native Americans Research Articles

Kennewick Man's Funeral: the Burying of Scientific Evidence

Kennewick Man, an early Holocene (9,000 years old) skeleton found in Washington State in 1996, has been a lightening rod for political discussion. Due to his alleged Caucasoid features, Kennewick Man controversially called into question who first peopled the Americas. A projectile point lodged in his hip also catapulted him to celebrity status. Spared the quick (within ninety days after an inquiry) repatriation typically re- quired under the 1990 federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Kennewick Man was fully examined by a team of scientists chosen by the government who were forbidden to discuss their findings. Although the team concluded that Kennewick Man has cranial features associated with both Caucasoids and modern Native Americans, he is considered mainly to resemble modern Japanese Ainu, Polynesians, and Southeast Asians, as are other early Amerindian finds. Despite the resolution of early controversies, Kennewick Man continues as a symbol of the ideology of repatriation. In this article, I review the evidence for my belief that, taken to an extreme, the demand to bury aboriginal skeletons, not only in America but also around the world, poses a potentially serious impediment to scientific enquiry.

Lapa vermelha IV Hominid 1: morphological affinities of the earliest known American

Several studies concerning the extra-continental morphological affinities of Paleo-Indian skeletons, carried out independently in South and North America, have indicated that the Americas were first occupied by non-Mongoloids that made their way to the New World through the Bering Strait in ancient times. The first South Americans show a clear resemblance to modern South Pacific and African populations, while the first North Americans seem to be at an unresolved morphological position between modern South Pacific and Europeans. In none of these analyses the first Americans show any resemblance to either northeast Asians or modern native Americans. So far, these studies have included affirmed and putative early skeletons thought to date between 8,000 and 10,000 years B.P. In this work the extra-continental morphological affinities of a Paleo-Indian skeleton well dated between 11,000 and 11,500 years B.P. (Lapa Vermelha IV Hominid 1, or "Luzia") is investigated, using as comparative samples Howells' (1989) world-wide modern series and Habgood's (1985) Old World Late Pleistocene fossil hominids. The comparison between Lapa Vermelha IV Hominid 1 and Howells' series was based on canonical variate analysis, including 45 size-corrected craniometric variables, while the comparison with fossil hominids was based on principal component analysis, including 16 size-corrected variables. In the first case, Lapa Vermelha IV Hominid 1 exhibited an undisputed morphological affinity firstly with Africans and secondly with South Pacific populations. In the second comparison, the earliest known American skeleton had its closest similarities with early Australians, Zhoukoudian Upper Cave 103, and Taforalt 18. The results obtained clearly confirm the idea that the Americas were first colonized by a generalized Homo sapiens population which inhabited East Asia in the Late Pleistocene, before the definition of the classic Mongoloid morphology.

A Reevaluation of the Sex Prediction Accuracy of the Minimum Supero-Inferior Femoral Neck Diameter for Modern Individuals

The results of an independent test of the minimum supero-inferior femoral neck diameter as a sex predictor are presented. Seidemann et al. (1) generated discriminant functions for Caucasians, African-Americans, and a combined race sample from the Hamann-Todd skeletal collection. Jackknifed classification matrices and the use of independent, random validation samples indicated a sex prediction accuracy in the 90% range. This, combined with a high rate of preservation, makes the femoral neck a significant measure for forensic applications. However, the method has not been evaluated on a truly modern sample. Data were collected for 94 males and 49 females from the Documented Collection at the University of New Mexico. The sample consists of 94 Caucasians, 33 African Americans, three modern Native Americans, two Hispanics, and 11 individuals of unknown ancestry. All individuals were born after the turn of the century. We evaluate the accuracy of the discriminant functions generated from the Hamann-Todd control sample. For Caucasians, 83% were correctly classified, for African Americans 97% were correctly classified and for the combined race function 85% were correctly classified. This decrease in accuracy is the result of the increase in African American male and all female sample means. This effectively decreases the separation between males and females for the femoral neck diameter. We generate new discriminant functions from the modern data and jackknife the classification matrices. The Caucasian function was 84% accurate, the African-American function was 82% accurate and the combined sample function was 85% accurate. The femoral neck may provide a useful alternative to multivariate techniques for individuals who are poorly preserved.

Distribution of mtDNA haplogroup X among Native North Americans.

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) samples of 70 Native Americans, most of whom had been found not to belong to any of the four common Native American haplogroups (A, B, C, and D), were analyzed for the presence of Dde I site losses at np 1715 and np 10394. These two mutations are characteristic of haplogroup X which might be of European origin. The first hypervariable segment (HVSI) of the non-coding control region (CR) of mtDNA of a representative selection of samples exhibiting these mutations was sequenced to confirm their assignment to haplogroup X. Thirty-two of the samples exhibited the restriction site losses characteristic of haplogroup X and, when sequenced, a representative selection (n = 11) of these exhibited the CR mutations commonly associated with haplogroup X, C --> T transitions at np 16278 and 16223, in addition to as many as three other HVSI mutations. The wide distribution of this haplogroup throughout North America, and its prehistoric presence there, are consistent with its being a fifth founding haplogroup exhibited by about 3% of modern Native Americans. Its markedly nonrandom distribution with high frequency in certain regions, as for the other four major mtDNA haplogroups, should facilitate establishing ancestor/descendant relationships between modern and prehistoric groups of Native Americans. The low frequency of haplogroups other than A, B, C, D, and X among the samples studied suggests a paucity of both recent non-Native American maternal admixture in alleged fullblood Native Americans and mutations at the restriction sites that characterize the five haplogroups as well as the absence of additional (undiscovered) founding haplogroups.

Y chromosome polymorphisms in native American and Siberian populations: identification of native American Y chromosome haplotypes.

We have initiated a study of ancient male migrations from Siberia to the Americas using Y chromosome polymorphisms. The first polymorphism examined, a C-->T transition at nucleotide position 181 of the DYS199 locus, was previously reported only in Native American populations. To investigate the origin of this DYS199 polymorphism, we screened Y chromosomes from a number of Siberian, Asian, and Native American populations for this and other markers. This survey detected the T allele in all five Native American populations studied at an average frequency of 61%, and in two of nine native Siberian populations, the Siberian Eskimo (21%) and the Chukchi (17%). This finding suggested that the DYS199 T allele may have originated in Beringia and was then spread throughout the New World by the founding populations of the major subgroups of modern Native Americans. We further characterized Native American Y chromosome variation by analyzing two additional Y chromosome polymorphisms, the DYS287 Y Alu polymorphic (YAP) element insertion and a YAP-associated A-->G transition at DYS271, both commonly found in Africans. We found neither African allele associated with the DYS199 T allele in any of the Native American or native Siberian populations. However, we did find DYS287 YAP+ individuals who harbored the DYS199 C allele in one Native American population, the Mixe, and in one Asian group, the Tibetans. A correlation of these Y chromosome alleles in Native Americans with those of the DYS1 locus, as detected by the p49a/p49f (p49a,f) probes on TaqI-digested genomic DNA, revealed a complete association of DYS1 alleles (p49a,f haplotypes) 13, 18, 66, 67 and 69 with the DYS199 T allele, while DYS1 alleles 8 and 63 were associated with both the DYS199 C and T allele.

Images of Urban Native Americans: The Border Zones of Mixed Identities

Introduction The dominant photographic images of Native Americans, past and present, tend to focus on two geographical/culture areas, the Plains and the Southwest. These images become fixed in the American media as typical Native American physical/cultural characteristics. Native American images east of the Mississippi River are often ignored. This paper will focus on Native Americans of Eastern tribes with connections to Middle Atlantic and Northeastern Algonquin cultures and Southeastern tribes. Photographs and photo collages are from the author/artist's photo-documentation of Eastern, usually state recognized tribes. These images will show the unique physical characteristics of a people whose early contact led to interracial marriages with Europeans and later with free people of color. The tri-racial backgrounds of some Eastern native Americans created a physical blend that looks Caucasian, Native American, or Mulattoe, depending on familial racial marriage patterns. Unfortunately, in a racially conscious society like the United States, this hybridization has resulted in discrimination and legal identification problems on birth certificates for some Native American families. These visual images portray mixed Eastern tribes as a people who still possess a strong Native American identity, evident in their participation in Native American cultural events such as powwows, spiritual ceremonies, political activism, and the arts. Native Americans are still living in a society that cannot believe they are indigenous unless they are dressed in buckskin and feathers. That stereotype has been out of date on the east coast for two centuries. Americans in general have an inability to conceptualize historic change among Native Americans. This double standard is founded on an unrealistic concept of cultural identity in defining Native Americans and has placed a burden on modern descendants to prove that they are real Indians. Native Americans on the Atlantic Coast had been in contact with both Europeans and Africans for a long time and gradually absorbed some elements of their lifestyles. All three racial groups shared an emerging folk culture that included elements of African, European, and Native American lifestyles. After World War II, many Native Americans from the South looked for jobs in less segregated areas and migrated to northern cities to join the urban labor force. Interaction with urban Native Americans from other tribes (Northern and Southern) increased a PanIndian identification. The dominant American society has created an image of Native Americans that is a racial stereotype, an image that is a reflection of the problems of the dominant society (Strickland 1989). But Native Americans have their own self-images and do not need to be defined by others. Some modern Native Americans resemble their early ancestors; others show the results of intermixture with other races. It is up to persons of Native American descent to decide how we are to define ourselves racially and what aspect(s) of our heritage we wish to emphasize. Native American artists of mixed racial heritage who wish to explore that complexity in their artwork need to be encouraged and recognized. In my photo documentation of contemporary Native American art and culture, I try to show the diversity that is prevalent in the United States, as well as the Caribbean and Latin-America. I focus on groups such as the Powhatan, Lumbee, Shinnicock, Narragansett, Houma, Haliwa Saponi, Mohegan, and Taino that the government and even other Native Americans have tried to marginalize. State recognized tribes do not get the financial cultural backing that the more dominant federally recognized tribes receive. Exposure of neglected Eastern tribes through the visual arts and the mass media is one method of refuting our disappearance. The Politics of Mixed Identities In the literature concerned with Native American history there has been an abundance of information on the relationships between the indigenous inhabitants and the European immigrants, now the majority population. …

Euro-American Realism versus Native Authenticity: Two Novels by Craig Lesley

Euro-American Realism versus Native Authenticity:Two Novels by Craig Lesley J. C. Davies J. C. Davies University of Hull Notes 1. The particular problem of Indian autobiography in having "two voices" while purporting to be singly authored is examined by David Murray in Forked Tongues: Speech, Writing and Representation in North American Indian Texts (London: Pinter Publishers, 1991), pp. 65-97. 2. Marjorie Perloff, Radical Artifice: Writing Poetry In the Age of Media (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1991), p. 11. 3. Arnold Krupat, Ethnocriticism: Ethnography, History, Literature (Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1992), p. 15. 4. Craig Lesley, Winterkill (New York: Dell, 1984), p. 19; hereafter cited parenthetically. 5. The Nez Perce veteran of the 1877 war, Wottolen, told L.V. McWhorter of a comrade in the campaign named Left Hand. See L.V. McWhorter, Hear Me, My Chiefs: Nez Perce History and Legend, ed. Ruth Bordin (Caldwell: Caxton Press, 1952), p. 419. Lesley's account of the death of Left Hand's first wife, Swan Lighting, at the battle of Big Hole is based on White Bird's description of the death of a Nez Perce woman at that battle. See Hear Me, My Chiefs, pp. 376-377, and Craig Lesley, River Song (New York: Dell, 1990), p. 132; hereafter cited parenthetically in the text. 6. "Chief Joseph's following . . . was reckoned the largest of the five bands constituting the Nez Perce malcontents." McWhorter, p. 177. 7. This is accomplished at the Medicine Tree in the Bitter Root Valley, an intertribal center of reverence and worship visited by the non-treaty Nez Perce during their campaign of 1877 and still used by modern Native Americans. After carrying out ritual actions here, Danny sees his dead ex-wife across a gully near the Big Hole battle site. 8. Lesley's fictional encounter tends to contradict Deward E. Walker's conclusion that "schismatic factionalism ... has served to bring about and even accelerate Nez Perce acculturation." Deward E. Walker, Conflict and Schism in Nez Perce Acculturation: A Study of Religion and Politics (Pullman: Washington State Univ. Press, 1968), p. 133. The wise woman, Wauna, from the ostensibly Christian reservation faction, has received her calling as result of her participation in pan-Indian political action on Alcatraz Island in 1969. See River Song, pp. 95-96, and D'Arcy McNickle, Native American Tribalism: Indian Survivals and Renewals (London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1973), p. viii. Thus Lesley's narrative dramatizes both renewal and conservation of the old ways at the Lapwai reservation. The actions of the missionaries from 1833 onwards initiated the rift which the 1863 treaty made permanent. See Alvin Josephy, The Nez Perce Indians and the Opening of the Northwest (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1971), pp. 70, 101-103. 9. For the status of The Dalles, before the advent of whites, as "a great intertribal fishing and trading center," see Josephy, p. 10, and Gordon B. Dodds, The American Northwest: A History of Oregon and Washington (Arlington Heights: Forum Press, 1986), p. 10. The dam was completed in 1957 (Dodds, p. 348). 10. See River Song, p. 203. Dodds (p. 277) gives a brief account of the secret development of a plutonium factory for the first atomic bombs in World War II at Hanford. 11. As Stephen Cornell puts it, "other groups in American life . . . may have a sense of history matching [that of Indians] in scope and in the immediacy with which it informs their daily lives. Uniquely for Indians . . . that sense of history is rooted here, in this land, in the geography of their present. Most forms of Indian political action are explicitly grounded in a consciousness of their history." The Return of the Native: American Indian Resurgence (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1988), p. 217. 12. Josephy, pp. 438, 362. 13. "This land here is sacred land—holy land for us. . . . The salmon here were given to us by the Creator, along with venison and roots" (River Song, p. 299). 14. See Arnold Krupat, For Those Who Come After: A Study of Native American Autobiography (Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1985), p. 119. 15. See Merrill D. Beal, Fight No More Forever: Chief Joseph and the Nez...