PORT ANGELES — The seven-month-old agreement between the state and Lower Elwha Klallam tribe over archeology at the graving yard remains in force, federal highway officials announced Wednesday.
The Federal Highway Administration’s Washington division administrator, Dan Mathis, issued a preliminary ruling Wednesday that favored the state’s interpretation of a memorandum of agreement signed in March by state, federal and tribal officials.
The agreement outlines the extent of the recovery of human remains at the 22.5-acre site on the Port Angeles waterfront.
The tribe challenged the state’s interpretation when the archeological dig revealed more skeletons and artifacts than originally expected.
But the Federal Highway Administration, or FHWA, ruling provides few answers to how to complete the archaeological excavation of the graving yard — which is on the site of a former Klallam village known as Tse-whit-zen — that would allow Transportation to resume full construction.
But one result of the ruling is clear: Department of Transportation and Lower Elwha Klallam tribal officials will meet next week to discuss the issues again, as advised by the FHWA.