"Pagan" predecessors

The BBC picks up on the growing evidence for multiple ancient migrations into the Americas with this story. Meanwhile, Inappropriate Response remains a good place to keep up with the "Caucasoid" Kennewick Man squabble.

For some American Indian political leaders, this issue has a line-in-the-sand quality. They apparently fear that if Kennewick Man, for instance, is shown to be racially different (Polynesian, perhaps) that they will lose standing in aboriginal land disputes, in claims on sacred sites, and, in general, the lose moral high ground. Whether those results would necessarily follow such findings, I am not sure, but I myself have no problem with DNA studies of all our ancestors.