Oregon Public Broadcasting

Kennewick Man's future has been fought over ever since the ancient skeleton was discovered.

And a bill passed by the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs could reopen the case between scientists who want to study the bones, and Native Americans who want to rebury them. Correspondent Anna King reports.

Kennewick Man is a 9,000-year-old, nearly complete skeleton found on the banks of the Columbia River in 1996.

Right now the skeleton is stored at the University of Washington’s Burke Museum where scientists have been studying the remains.

But that could change. A bill passed by the Committee on Indian Affairs could reopen Kennewick Man’s case. Cleo Hawkinson: "Yes, Kennewick Man could be reburied and if it were the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla they have publicly stated that it would be in a scared, secret place so that no one would really know where those remains would be."

That’s Cleo Hawkinson, with Friends of America’s Past, she one of many scientists who wants to study the bones. She says she’s worried the bill will slip through without much debate.

The change that reopens the debate would allow the returning of remains and artifacts even if they aren’t linked to present day tribes.

A few years ago the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Kennewick Man isn’t related to modern Northwest tribes who claim him as an ancestor.

The bill must pass the U.S. Senate and House before becoming law.