Man claims right to bones

By Joseph B. Frazier

Associated Press Writer

PORTLAND (AP) - A third party is laying claim to the 9,300-year-old remains of the Kennewick Man, claiming the ancient one was a relative of the Tui Manu'a, the first ancient rulers of ancient Polynesia.

Joseph P. Siofele, also known as Paramount Chieftan Faumuina, of Moreno Valley, Calif., filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court on his own behalf Monday seeking to be an intervenor in the legal squabble between scientists and Indian tribes over who has the right to the remains, which currently reside at the Burke Museum in Seattle.

Scientists are suing for access to the bones for study, while the government and five Columbia River tribes claim Kennewick Man is a Native American and want the bones for reburial. A ruling is expected soon from U.S. Magistrate John Jelderks in Portland.

The scientists want to study the skeleton further to see if it represents some unknown source of migration to North America apart from the traditional theory of people walking from Asia across a land bridge to North America.

The bones, bearing a stone spear point in the pelvis, were discovered in July 1996 in an eroding bank of the Columbia River at Kennewick, Wash., by two college students.

Citing the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, then-Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt awarded custody a few months later to the Colville, Umatilla, Yakama, Nez Perce and Wanapum tribes. The scientists sued.

Siofele contends his rights are "superior to any rights the Plaintiffs and Defendants may have to the Kennewick Man."

He says he is a next of kin to Kennewick Man "either by and through the lineage of Tui Manu'a or through the prehistory Paramount Chieftan Mauga Sai of Pago Pago, Tutuila, American Samoa."

He alleges that after the biblical flood, the families of Erik, Leif, Pomerenia, Rollo, V'e, Vili Vani and Vana met an Asian tribe and intermingled.

He contends similar names exist in Polynesia and that the offspring were white with blond or red hair.

The early American families that occupied Alaska encountered white, blond people, the claim says.

It says those people had reached Alaska via north Asia and eventually arrived at present-day Washington state.

Some went from there to South America, he claims, called themselves Incas, and that some of those sailed on west to Polynesia.

The suit says the faceoff between the tribes and the scientists is a classic case of science versus religion.