Nearly 400 Gabrielino-Tongva ancestors will be reburied at the site where they were removed by a development company in Playa Vista, California.
The site was discovered in 2003. But the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act didn't apply because the Gabrielino-Tongvas aren't federally recognized.
After years of battles, tribal leaders and the Playa Vista developers reached an agreement in January to put the bodies back into the ground. The housing and retail development will continue.
"They should have never removed them," Robert Dorame, the chairman of the Gabrielino-Tongva Indians, told The Los Angeles Times. "But now that they have, my goal is to get them back in the ground as close [as possible] to where they were taken from."
Get the Story:Putting to rest tribal remains (The Los Angeles Times 3/11)
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