Ancient Bones, Modern Politics: The Fight Over Hawaii's Past

In a quiet corner of a federal document, a small detail could rewrite what we know about Hawaii's history. It mentions that San José State University has bones from an Ice Age person from Maui.

A Big Deal

This is a big deal because people usually think Hawaii wasn't inhabited until around 800 to 1000 AD. The Ice Age ended about 12,000 years ago, so these bones could be 10,000 years older than the oldest known human remains in Hawaii.

The Missing Excitement

You'd think scientists worldwide would be excited. But that's not happening. Instead, these bones are going back to Hawaii for reburial. Why? Because of a law called NAGPRA.

NAGPRA: The Law

This law was made to return human remains to modern tribes. But recently, the rules changed. Now, even science like DNA doesn't matter if a tribe says otherwise.

The Balance

NAGPRA was supposed to be a balance. Return connected remains, but let scientists study the rest. But some people want everything back, no matter what.

California's Situation

In California, real research has stopped. Instead, universities just give tribes whatever they ask for. Sometimes, it's not even clear if the items are connected to the tribes.

The Decision

How did SJSU decide these bones are from the Ice Age? They had one document saying so. That was enough for them to decide the bones belong to modern Hawaiians. Now, they're giving these bones to a group that wants to take back artifacts from Western researchers.

The Missing Opportunity

For almost 20 years, someone who worked with these collections didn't know about these bones. If they had, they could have studied them. Maybe they would have made a big discovery. But now, we'll never know.

The Questions

Did someone mix up the labels? Are the bones really from the Ice Age? Are they even human? Only science can answer these questions. But when politics come first, science loses.