PROFILE
ILLUSTRATION BY RACHEL IDZERDA
Kristi Charish was studying archaeology at Vancouver’s Simon Fraser University in 1996 when a collection of bones was discovered in Washington state. Carbon dating showed the skeleton – named Kennewick Man, after the area where it was found – to be about 9,000 years old. Even more exciting than the discovery itself was evidence indicating the bones were Caucasian – a startling find, given the ethnicity of the groups in the area during that time period.