James C. Chatters

James C. Chatters (born March 20, 1949) is an American archaeologist and paleontologist. , he is the owner of forensics consulting firm, Applied Paleoscience; and serves as a research associate in the Office of Graduate Studies, Research, and Continuing Education at Central Washington University; Deputy Coroner of Benton County, Washington; and a consulting scientist on staff with Foster Wheeler Environmental Corporation of Bothell, Washington. In 1996, Chatters was the first scientist to excavate and study the prehistoric (Paleo-Indian) skeletal remains, known as Kennewick Man, which were discovered on the banks of the Columbia River.

Educational background James Chatters attended Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, graduating in 1971 with a bachelor's degree in anthropology. He then enrolled in the University of Washington in Seattle, where he continued his study of anthropology, earning his master's degree and Ph.D. in 1975 and 1982, respectively. After they alerted a local police officer, a local dive team went out to the area, gathered more bone fragments along with the skull, then taped off the shore for protection, as a possible crime scene.

At the time of the discovery, Chatters owned a forensics consulting business called Applied Paleoscience, He also consulted with Northwest tribes to assist with protection and repatriation of Native American remains discovered throughout the Columbia Basin.

On the early evening of the discovery, the Benton County Coroner, Floyd Johnson, called Chatters to ask him to take a look at the skull to determine if it belonged to a current or recent crime victim. Chatters, eager to help, invited Johnson to bring the skull over to his home, after which they quickly returned to the discovery site to gather more skeletal remains, before the sun would set that evening.

Chatters' scientific findings brought controversy to the discovery and triggered a nine-year legal battle between scientists, the US Army Corps of Engineers, and Native American tribes, who attempted to claim the remains as one of their ancestors, in accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). The US Army Corps of Engineers, who oversaw the land where the remains were found, agreed to comply with the requests of the tribes.

In 2002, a federal court in the state of Oregon ruled that the tribes failed to establish viable and definitive cultural links between themselves and Ancient One, formerly known as, Kennewick Man. This ruling opened up the way for Chatters and the team of eight scientists to study the remains. Following an appeal in February 2004, a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the decision. The ruling additionally set a precedent, ensuring that any future discovery of ancient remains would also be made available for scientific studies. Using craniometry, a team had concluded that Ancient One, formerly known as Kennewick Man, was related to Western- or South-Pacific populations such as the Ainu or the Polynesians.

Published works Chatters, James C. Ancient Encounters: Kennewick Man and the First Americans, Simon & Schuster, 2001. Chatters, James C. (ed.); Prentiss, Anna (ed.); and Kuijt, Ian (ed.). Macroevolution in Human Prehistory: Evolutionary Theory and Processual Archaeology, Springer Publishing, 2009.