An edited version of the March 17 Port Angeles graving yard agreement — not called a contract but a “memorandum of agreement,”‘ a “site treatment plan” and “mitigation agreement” — was obtained by the Peninsula Daily News last April under a Freedom of Information public records request to the state Department of Transportation.
Transportation officials told the PDN that they edited out only references in the agreement to “records, maps or other information identifying the location of archaeological sites in order to avoid looting or depredation of such sites.”
Basically, the agreement outlines how work at the graving yard would continue in relation to the discovery of Klallam human remains and artifacts at the 22-acre site, once a Klallam village called Tse-whit-zen.
There are no deadlines or time constraints in the document provided to the PDN.
And the agreement’s Article 7 has a powerful disclaimer:
“This Agreement is not intended to, ands does not, compromise, waive or otherwise affect the Tribe’s rights to seek consultation, funding or other relief from the United States and its agencies in order to resolve or mitigate adverse effects or otherwise comply with applicable law.”
The graving yard — “graving” is an old marine term for repairing a ship in an onshore dry dock — was to be a fabrication site for new pontoons and anchors for the deteriorating Hood Canal Bridge, in urgent need of repairs.
The tribe was paid about $3 million in “mitigation funds” to purchase land near the graving yard to rebury tribal ancestors and to construct “a curation facility” to properly preserve and store artifacts.
In addition, the agreement called for a full-scale archaeological excavation at the site — but there are no time limits listed in the agreement, except that it is noted that the state had agreed to pay $4.5 million for this work.
After the agreement was signed, however, Transportation officials told the PDN that it was expected that the work would last about four months — probably ending by early August.
This changed, the tribe said, when about 300 graves and 1,000 scattered pieces of human bones were found, along with a huge trove of ritual and ceremonial artifacts, some of which date back 2,700 years.
Federal archaeologists now call the site the largest prehistoric Indian village and burial ground found in the United States.
