Duke researcher helps locate American Indian's missing brain

The brain of Ishi, an American Indian known as "the last wild man in America," was found in a Smithsonian Institution warehouse in Maryland last month by Orin Starn, a Duke professor researching a book on Ishi.

The discovery was revealed Friday by the University of California at San Francisco. Solving the mystery may finally permit a proper burial of Ishi, the sole survivor of the Yahi tribe after the last members were believed to have been killed by settlers or disease.

"To put Ishi back together, to get his remains back will be something that people will feel good about," said Larry Myer, director of the state's Native American Heritage Commission. "It will give us a sense of healing, a sense of control."

The mystery is the most recent chapter in the incredible story of Ishi, who walked out of the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas in 1911 after years in hiding. He lived at USCF, giving demonstrations of American Indian life, until he died of tuberculosis five years later.

An autopsy was performed on Ishi and his brain was removed. His body was cremated and his ashes were taken to a cemetery outside San Francisco. But scientists lost track of his brain, and Indian leaders refused to go through with the ceremony without it. Indian leaders in California demanded an investigation into what happened to his brain, and the search began.

Two years ago, administrators at UCSF asked historian Nancy Rockafellar to determine whether the brain was at the university.

She learned that Starn, a Duke anthropologist, was researching a book on Ishi and told him about the autopsy. Starn found a file at the University of California at Berkeley that cataloged the transfer of Ishi's brain to the Smithsonian.

"It was not uncommon to study brains in the early 20th century," Starn said. "Some people thought that different races had different brain sizes."

Last month, Starn confirmed the brain was being kept in a tank by the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. It is one of nine American Indian brains and thousands of skeletons collected for research.

A Smithsonian spokesman said Friday that the institution has been in touch with tribes in California's Butte County to discuss repatriation.

Starn said he didn't think there was any "bad intent" on the part of the institution, which apparently didn't know people were seeking the remains.

"I think Ishi is important as a symbol a reminder of what happened to indigenous people during the white takeover and conquest," Starn said. "He really was a victim of a holocaust."

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