The skeletons have been unearthed over a number of years but it was the discovery of a particularly well- preserved one

The skeletons have been unearthed over a number of years, but it was the discovery of a particularly well- preserved one, in Washington State last summer, that suggested a reassessment was in order.Among those excited by the hypothesis is Dennis Stafford, a recognised authority on American pre-history at the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of Natural History, who said: "I think we're going to see the whole complexion of north American pre-history change real fast."The findings, if they gain acceptance, have ramifications that are as political as they are scientific. The trend in the US in recent years has been towards fulsome official acknowledgement that American Indians were the original "Americans" and they were gravely wronged by the much later European settlers, beginning with Columbus.Encyclopaedia entries have been rewritten and museum displays have been revised to accommodate the new orthodoxy and show due respect to the Indians as "native Americans". Celebrations for Columbus Day, which traditionally honoured the explorer who discovered America, have been played down in deference to the Indian objection that "we weren't discovered, we were already here".Not surprisingly, perhaps, the "native Americans" appear not to have taken too kindly to the possibility that they were not actually native Americans.Two of the skeletons in question were claimed as "ancestors" by the tribes on whose land they were found, and duly buried.However, the crucial Washington State skeleton is currently in a vault pending the outcome of a court battle between the local Umatilla Indians who want to bury it and the anthropologists who want to study it.. President Nelson Mandela and his predecessor, FW de Klerk, who shared a Nobel prize for bringing democracy to South Africa, yesterday warned that their country's post-apartheid unity was cracking. "We are burdened with the legacy of decades, indeed centuries, of deliberate division, conflict and hostility.

It would be a mighty error to imagine that three years could eradicate all trace of what kept us apart for so long. Today, in some ways, the old fault lines in our society are showing more sharply," Mr Mandela told parliament. Mr de Klerk appeared to agree. "Reconciliation, co-operation and nation-building have become central themes of your presidency Unfortunately ... objective analysis shows that we are slipping downwards, that we are beginning to lose out," he said.. Prince Andrew urged British businesses to explore more investment and trade opportunities in Zimbabwe, saying its economic climate was improving rapidly. The prince arrived in Zimbabwe yesterday for a three-day visit during which he will witness a joint military exercise by eight southern African nations.

Britain is partly funding the exercise, in which some 1,100 troops from Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zimbabwe are taking part. The exercise, aimed at honing peace-keeping skills, is the first of its kind in Africa Reuters - Harare. Weeks of an inimitably American sporting love-in came to a climax last night with President Bill Clinton's appearance at Shea stadium, in New York, to honour the memory of a national hero with a difference. It was 50 years to the day since Jackie Robinson took the field for the Dodgers in Brooklyn and became the first black player admitted to Major League baseball, and Mr Clinton, ever attuned to the public mood, was there to pay the nation's tribute. Already a big event, the anniversary was given special point at the weekend when Tiger Woods, at 21, became the first black American to win the US Masters golf tournament. It was a victory that smashed all records: Woods won by the biggest margin, with the highest under-par score - at the "whitest" golf club in the United States.Young black golfers across the country spoke of being inspired to "go out and practise" each time they recalled Woods's victory.Middle-class parents and grandparents - white, but especially black - delighted in the dignified comportment and linguistic sophistication of their new hero.Some even hazarded, perhaps from an inadequate appreciation of the historical context, that Woods's achievement - victory in a sport that is predominantly 'white" - could prove even greater than Robinson's, opening the door to "colour-blindness" in all sports.But the celebration of Jackie Robinson and Tiger Woods has not been unalloyed.

Woods himself helped to puncture the bubble of euphoria by declining President Clinton's invitation to be his personal guest at Shea stadium last night He stuck to plans to go on holiday. Whether he feared elevation to the icon status of Robinson or simply did not want to detract from the Robinson anniversary, can only be a matter for speculation.Even before Woods's decision to go on holiday, however, the Robinson anniversary had provided the occasion for some awkward questioning about the baseball player's real legacy and about the position of blacks in US sport today.One aspect, thrown into relief by Woods's golfing success, is the continued segregation of sport, and sports It is not just golf that remains a largely white sport. Even professional baseball, where Robinson supposedly broke the path for blacks, boasts only 17 per cent of players who are black, and the proportion is declining. This contrasts with basketball and American football, where players are predominantly - 80 and 67 per cent respectively - black.

The athletics field, and particularly the running track, is similarly dominated by blacks.Some explain this discrepancy as a matter of class and economics rather than colour. Club and green fees, they say, are just too high for many blacks; a pair of boots and a ball are affordable. They note that new golf courses are springing up in black middle-class areas - but without concluding that the existence of "white" and "black" courses may perpetuate segregation. Nor does affordability explain the relatively small number of blacks in the highly lucrative sport of baseball.But the anniversary has also spawned a more profound question that goes well beyond the world of sport. In its starkest form, this asks whether Jackie Robinson might unwittingly be to blame for the failure of many (especially male) blacks in American society and their low expectations.Robinson's elevation to black icon, proponents of this view say, meant many young blacks saw sport, and only sport, as their passport to wealth and success.