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The Kennewick Man Case | Court Documents | Affidavits & DeclarationsJoint Tribal Claimants Motion for Stay Pending AppealAffidavit of Dr. Manfred JaehnigNaomi Stacy, WSBA #: 29434
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT ROBSON BONNICHSEN, C. LORING BRACE, GEORGE W. GILL, C. VANCE HAYNES, JR., RICHARD L. JANTZ, DOUGLAS W. OWSLEY. DENNIS J. STANFORD and D. GENTRY STEELE, Plaintiffs, v UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY. U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS. BARTHOLOMEW B. BOHN It. DONALD R CURTIS and LEE TURNER. Defendants. Civil No. 96-1481 JE AFFIDAVIT OF DR. MANFRED JAEFINIG IN SUPPORT OF JOINT TRIBAL CLAIMANTS MOTION FOR STAY PENDING APPEAL
State of Oregon I, Manfred Jaehnig. being first duly sworn on oath, state and depose that the following facts, to the best of my knowledge. information and belief, arc true and correct: 1. My name is Manfred Jaehnig, and I currently work as an Archaeologist for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR). 2. learned my PhD. in anthropology in 1975. and have practiced archaeology on the Columbia Plateau for 22 years prior to coming to work for the CTUIR. 3. I have reviewed the "Plaintiffs' Study Plan, Kennewick Man Skeletal Remains" for consistency with current practice in the field of anthropology. 4. I have found significant portions of the plan to involve excessive handling, destructive testing, and practices which endanger the remains. 5. For instance, in the portion called "Observations and Measurements," a minimum of 17 scientists will handle the Kennewick Man - four during the taphonomic analysis and examination, and 13 more to do the rest of the observation and measurements, 6. With this much handling, even with latex gloves, there will be irreparable erosion of the fragile human remains. 7. The proposed tests total at least 12 examinations and two partial examinations, by 17 scientists and their helpers is derived from the following:
8. There will be a number of tools used for the examination and measurements that will cause actual or potential harm to the remains. particularly the use of dental picks and other sharp. metal devices used by dentists to scrape and clean teeth. Because enamel on teeth is the hardest material in the human body, use of dental picks to clean fragile bones will cause damage to those bones. 9. Instead of these metal tools, sharpened bamboo splinters (pieces of bamboo poles) are almost as effective and cause much less damage. Other tools which will probably be metal include calipers (both spreading and sliding), tapes, and so on, all of which will touch the bones and, therefore, potentially cause damage. 10. The bones will be damaged in the "Microsampling," which will entail taking two bone samples from 20 bones each, for a total of 40 samples. They will be taken with a 1116" drill bit, which is 1.6 mm in diameter. However, an electric hand drill will be used, and even the most careful driller could probably only manage to hold the whirring drill steady enough to produce a hole of 2 mm diameter. With 40 holes drilled into the cortex of the bone will weaken and potentially fracture bones. This can jeopardize the integrity of the remains. 11. The investigation of the calcium carbonate deposits will entail removing samples of the deposit with a dremel tool or a low-speed drill. There is no way this can be done without further impacting the bone. 12. The sedimentary analysis will cause the same damage as the calcium carbonate deposits, thus doubling the damage done by the dremel tool or low-speed drill. 13. The scientific photography will mean additional handling of the whole skeleton. This is followed by x-ray of the maxilla and mandible (the mouth portion of the skull), the skull, the long bones and the pathological bones, all adding up to more handling. 14. The CT imaging of the skull will involve more handling of the bones. This is followed by a laser scan and scanning electron microscope analysis of the remains. Finally, a dental peel will be done. While this is noted as non-destructive, simply handling the fragile remains will erode them, even the teeth. 15. In summary, the total skeleton will be handled 17 times, and the pelvis, hand and foot bones, and teeth will handled additionally. 16. The study plan fails to designate exactly how many people will be handling the remains. However I suspect that between 25 to 30 people will be handling the remains. In addition, there will be 40 holes drilled into the remains and calcium carbonate will be removed from the remains. 17. There is no way the remains of the Ancient One will not be severely impacted during this study. 18. Finally, after this battery of tests, other scientists will want to do their own battery of tests. This creates the potential that every person with a Masters or a PhD could apply to study the remains until they are completely destroyed. I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on this day, November 12 2002.
(signed) Return to Affidavits & Declarations |
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