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The Jackson Hole/Casper Star-Tribune posted an article on new proposals to put laws in place to handle the discovery of human remains in unmarked burial grounds on private land. County Coroners are supporting drafting a bill to codify the necessary steps for non-federal lands. On federal land, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 specifies disposal steps and laws.

This is significant to our area as development activity unearths more and more archaeological and historic finds in unmarked locations. Sublette County has numerous Native American prehistoric sites as well as historic sites related to immigration along the Oregon Trail on public and private land. Last May, six skeletons were found on private land just west of Pinedale when a homeowner was putting in a septic leach field. Laboratory analysis dated those to be the 1,000-year old remains to be three adults and three children. The site first became a crime scene until it was determined the bones were prehistoric.

Click on this link to read the complete story by Joan Barron: How to handle human remains?
(Jackson Hole/Casper Star-Tribune, June 16, 2008)

Related Links Human Skeletons found near Pinedale - Pinedale Online, May 11, 2007, 5 photos)