The story of Kennewick man is a long and complex one. It begins July 29, 1996 in Kennewick, Washington where a skeleton was stumbled upon by two men preparing for the weekends hydro-races. These two men were Will Thomas, 21, and Dave Deacy,19. They called the sheriff who, in turn, sent for forensic analysis of the skeleton. What the sheriff didn't know was that this was no ordinary murder victim.

Anthropologist James Chatters from the University of WA arrived at the site to retreave the rest of the skeleton and to conduct a forensic analysis of hte remains. Because of the unusually good condition of the skeleton and the caucasion-like features, he suspected the skeleton belonged to an early 19th century settler. But the discovery of a stone arrow point lodged in the skeletons right pelvis, he began to suspect the skeleton was very old.

Carbon dating revieled that Kennewick man (which the skeleton became known as) was born as long as 9,000 years ago. Other tests revealed Kennewick was 40-45 years old at the time of his death, he was approxamately 176 cm tall. His skeleton showed signs of many injuries including compound fractures of at least 6 ribs and damage to his left shoulder musculature, atrophy of the left humerus due to the muscle damage, and the healing projectile wound in his right pelvis (Chatters).