PORT ANGELES — Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Chairman Dennis R. Sullivan remained adamant Thursday in not revealing what was discovered to cause work to stop at the Hood Canal Bridge graving yard site.
Sullivan said discussing specific details about what was discovered on the 22.4-acre graving yard project site, on Marine Drive, would dishonor tribal ancestors.
“We cannot discuss if there were remains discovered because it is tribal custom to protect our ancestors,” Sullivan said Thursday night.
“What I can say is that there was enough interest to warrant a shutdown.”
State Department of Transportation officials are also refusing to describe whether artifacts or remains — possibly from an Indian burial site — were found Tuesday morning.
The waterfront property once hosted a former Klallam village believed to date back more than 100 years.
Sullivan on Thursday would not confirm or deny that a burial site was uncovered by the Poulsbo contractor building the $17 million graving yard, a large dry dock in which pontoons and concrete anchors for the new half of the Hood Canal Bridge will be built.
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The rest of the story appears in the Friday/Saturday Peninsula Daily News.
