April
30 2007
Ancient Burial Site Found During Work at
Development
By Sheldon S. Shafer -
The Courier-Journal
A burial site with the remains of at least 33 American Indians who probably
lived around 3000 B.C. has been unearthed at the construction site of
RiverPark Place residential development off River Road near Towhead Island.
The remains, including three or four skulls with partly disintegrated
skeletons, will be reburied at an appropriate site to be determined by the
Army Corps of Engineers in consultation with representatives of three tribes,
corps officials said yesterday.
The discovery was not surprising, according to the corps or AMEC Earth
& Environmental, a group with expertise in archaeological excavation under
contract to the Poe Cos., the RiverPark Place developer.
“It was about what we expected to find,” said Hank McKelway, an
anthropologist and AMEC’s lead resources manager at RiverPark Place.
The archaeological work on the burial site and the relocation of the
remains will not delay construction of the $200 million project, which will
include more than 600 condos and apartments, said Bob Bunnel, a partner in
Peritus Public Relations, which is under contract to Poe to promote RiverPark
Place.
Based on earlier work on this site, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Poe
Cos. and the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation, the United Keetoowah Band of
Cherokee Indians and the Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma entered into an agreement
on the handling of any remains found at the site.
Army Corps spokesman Bob Faletti said the agreement restricts what can be
said about what’s found and also prohibits any photographs of any
excavation. Contacts for the three tribes that signed the agreement either
couldn’t be reached or didn’t return phone calls yesterday.
McKelway said that in addition to the human remains, a few primitive
artifacts, including arrowheads, stone chips and pieces of what may have been
tools, have been uncovered. They will probably be sent to the University of
Kentucky or the University of Louisville for analysis and storage, officials
said.