CHARLESTON, W.Va. - The remains of more than 600 American Indians unearthed in Putnam County nearly five decades ago have been returned to West Virginia.

The remains, stored in about 150 boxes, were shipped from Ohio State University to the Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex Research Facility in Moundsville last week. 

Now, the goal is to rebury the remains in Putnam County - out of what advocates say is respect for the dead and Indian spirituality.

The skeletal remains were unearthed in 1963 in Buffalo less than a mile from the present-day Toyota plant. American Electric Power currently owns the land.

During the two-year excavation project, crews unearthed countless artifacts and the outlines of a village 400 to 500 years old.

Crews also dug up more than 500 graves. After their exhumation, the bones passed through several institutions, before they ended up in storage at Ohio State in the early 1990s.

In March, Putnam County commissioners signed a letter stating they were willing to take the remains and rebury them in an undisclosed site.

But some archaeologists spoke out against the reburials, saying it would destroy the chance for future scientific discoveries about the origins of the remains.

In May, the state and the County Commission brought the issue of reburying the remains before the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act review committee.

The committee tabled the issue saying there were too many unanswered questions of who had legal control of the skeletal remains.

The remains landed in Moundsville after the state was able to locate a lease agreement between Union Carbide and West Virginia stating that all excavation materials would become the property of the state, said Susan Pierce, deputy state historic preservation officer.

NAGPRA, passed in 1990, allows federally recognized tribes to reclaim Indian remains and artifacts from museums and universities. No federally recognized tribes have claimed the remains.

The Buffalo remains have been deemed "culturally unidentifiable," meaning they cannot be linked to modern-day tribes, said Brian Donat, Putnam County administrator.

"The hope is to be able to affiliate the remains with a current tribe," Donat said. "If that tribe will step forward and claim them then the state can go ahead and rebury them."

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - The remains of more than 600 American Indians unearthed in Putnam County nearly five decades ago have been returned to West Virginia.

The remains, stored in about 150 boxes, were shipped from Ohio State University to the Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex Research Facility in Moundsville last week. 

Now, the goal is to rebury the remains in Putnam County - out of what advocates say is respect for the dead and Indian spirituality.

The skeletal remains were unearthed in 1963 in Buffalo less than a mile from the present-day Toyota plant. American Electric Power currently owns the land.

During the two-year excavation project, crews unearthed countless artifacts and the outlines of a village 400 to 500 years old.

Crews also dug up more than 500 graves. After their exhumation, the bones passed through several institutions, before they ended up in storage at Ohio State in the early 1990s.

In March, Putnam County commissioners signed a letter stating they were willing to take the remains and rebury them in an undisclosed site.

But some archaeologists spoke out against the reburials, saying it would destroy the chance for future scientific discoveries about the origins of the remains.

In May, the state and the County Commission brought the issue of reburying the remains before the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act review committee.

The committee tabled the issue saying there were too many unanswered questions of who had legal control of the skeletal remains.

The remains landed in Moundsville after the state was able to locate a lease agreement between Union Carbide and West Virginia stating that all excavation materials would become the property of the state, said Susan Pierce, deputy state historic preservation officer.

NAGPRA, passed in 1990, allows federally recognized tribes to reclaim Indian remains and artifacts from museums and universities. No federally recognized tribes have claimed the remains.

The Buffalo remains have been deemed "culturally unidentifiable," meaning they cannot be linked to modern-day tribes, said Brian Donat, Putnam County administrator.

"The hope is to be able to affiliate the remains with a current tribe," Donat said. "If that tribe will step forward and claim them then the state can go ahead and rebury them."

Pierce said the state has every intention of following NAGPRA and reburying the remains once they are culturally identified. She said there also are no plans for further testing or for DNA analysis.

"Invasive testing is not something that the tribes consider appropriate," Pierce said.

"Our goal is have them reburied," Donat said. "They're been studied enough and have been floating around for 40-some years."

Efforts to rebury the Buffalo people are not new. Various Indian groups, Putnam residents, Buffalo town officials and even the Buffalo United Methodist Church have campaigned for their return.

In 2000-01 there was a move to repatriate and rebury the remains, Ohio State spokesman Earle Holland said.

"Our legal affairs staff at the time said the remains were coved by the protection of federal law [NAGPRA] and until someone could identify what the direct linage of the bones were and connect them to some pre existing tribe ... we were responsible for maintaining and safeguarding those materials," he said.

Pierce said the current goal of researchers of the Gravel Creek facility is to review the inventory delivered from Ohio State. She said the next step is to begin contacting federally recognized tribes that may have a cultural affiliation with the remains.

The Grave Creek Complex also holds a number of artifacts excavated from the American Indian village in Buffalo. 

The complex opened its new research center in May. The new 9,600-square-foot wing features a state-of-the-art collections storage area, a conservation laboratory for curators, a study area for researchers, a library, and an observation area where the public can view the activity in the lab.

The addition houses archaeological collections that are currently stored at various locations in and out of West Virginia.

Prior to the new facility there were no state or federal repositories in West Virginia suitable for storing archaeological materials.

Reach Veronica Nett

at veroni...@wvgazette.com

or 348-5113.