Tribes clash over burial items at Bolsa

Plans to rebury the remaining 87 sets of ancient remains found on the Brightwater housing development on the Bolsa Chica Mesa have been put off after Native American groups complained about the handling of burial items, officials said.

Anthony Morales, chairman of the Gabrielino-Tongva band of Mission Indians, told the California Coastal Commission last week that developer Hearthside Homes wasn’t properly reporting and classifying the ancient objects and remains found on the site. If not for the complaint, officials say the reburial would have commenced next week.

At the same time, the state Native American Heritage Commission has asked the Coastal Commission to look into allegations that remains and buried objects have not been consistently reported by the developer. An April 8 memo to the Coastal Commission was sparked by media reports, the agency’s Executive Secretary Larry Myers said.

“Rumor seems to have it that there are a lot more remains out there discovered and perhaps not reported,” he said. “I want to know whether that’s true. What we’re trying to do is find out exactly how many remains were taken out. We’re just asking them for a report.”

Part of the dispute is over grave goods, those items actually found with the remains, which are supposed to be reburied with the bones. Morales complained that not enough items were being treated as grave goods, officials said.

But Ed Mountford, senior vice president of Hearthside Homes, said the dispute was a disagreement between two tribal groups with legally recognized ties to the site. Negotiations between leaders of the Gabrielino-Tongva and Juaneño — both of whom have been designated most likely descendants — are what will solve the issue, Mountford said.

“Juaneños want certain items reburied, and Gabrielinos want certain items plus more reburied,” he said. “We’ve just got to work out a compromise on this and figure out what needs to go back in the ground. We’ll work it out, and it’ll eventually move forward. It’s just going to take longer than we thought.”

Joyce Perry, cultural resources manager for one Juaneño group, said the developer had been following its agreement with her tribal group, and she didn’t want any delays in burial.

“Our desire is to have the ancestors reburied as quickly as possible,” she said. “We do not desire them to be out of the earth any longer than they have been. It’s against our spiritual and religious beliefs.”

Efforts to contact Morales were unsuccessful.

JOSH ADEN may be reached at (714) 966-4609 or at josh.aden@latimes.com.