http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2012/10/11/2724539/kennewick-man-from-coast-anthropologist.html

Kennewick Man apparently was just a visitor to the area of present-day Kennewick, the latest results of the study of his skeleton indicate.

Douglas Owsley, a Smithsonian Institute anthropologist, gave an update of scientific findings Wednesday at Archaeology Days at Grant County Public Utility District in Beverly. He led the court battle to study the 9,300-year-old skeleton found along the Columbia River in 1996.

An isotopic analysis of Kennewick Man's bones shows he most likely was eating a coastal diet based on marine proteins, such as seals, Owsley said.

"It's very confusing and very unexpected," he said.

The study determined a nitrogen isotope value for his bones, which would be low if he were eating animals that grazed, but high if he were eating a diet of meat higher up the food chain.

Grazers such as deer and elk "were just not in his world," Owsley said.

If Kennewick Man had been eating large quantities of salmon, he still would not have had the nitrogen isotopes detected, Owsley said. Neither would small marine life, such as clams, give such a high reading, he said.

Other isotopic results also contributed to indications of a coastal home for Kennewick Man.

The carbon isotopes detected are a signal that he had a marine-based diet. And oxygen isotopes, which usually are tied to the water a person drinks, are not what would be expected from drinking Columbia River water, Owsley said.

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