Who says there are no new legal challenges? In 1935, a number of 8,000-year-old Native American remains were exhumed in Bell County and since that time have been pored over by scientists and whatever at Baylor University. The Native American Graves protection and Repatriation Act has since come along and it is time to reinter said remains. It is unknown what tribe, if any, the remains belonged to. A private citizen who owns the land where the remains were originally located would like to reinter the remains on that property, which is in the county and not within the mileage limits prohibiting such interment by Sec. 711.008, H&S Code. he also plans to erect a marker. Query: What actions if any have to be taken to make this legal, if any? Does the county have to create a special cemetery for those remains? I have a call into the TX Dept. of Health to see if there is any state regulation covering such a situation. Anyone with any experience here?

I don't have experience with 8,000-yr-old Native American remains, but a lady did call several weeks ago to ask what requirements, if any, our county had to establish a cemetery. We did not have any regulations on the subject, but I did refer her to the state agency (Dept. of Health, I think) that handles those matters.

I did suggest to her, however, that she and her husband would want to deed the lands to themselves or to someone else or some other entity so that the particular property would be recorded in the deed records as a cemetery, and no one would have an unpleasant surprise many years down the road. I would think that the same might apply to your situation. Perhaps even a deed restriction limiting use to a cemetery so that no one can come back later to try to use the property for something else.

Thanks, Jim. That's a good idea. I check with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the off-the-top-of-the-head opinion I got was that it was a matter of state law if the tribe was unknown. Of course, the TX Dept of Health referred me to the BIA. I was wondering if the Commissioners Court might have to create an official cemetery site, but perhaps the individual might deed it to the county as a cemetery. Thanks again.

Rick, the Historical Commission has an archeology department that deals with Indian burial issues from time to time. Their number is 512/463-6096 in Austin.