The Keeaumoku Wal-Mart and Sam's Club complex, built on a Native Hawaiian burial ground

Workers constructing a Wal-Mart and Sam's Club in Keeaumoku, Hawaii, mishandled human remains—marking a skull with red ink and duct-taping another skeleton—according to the state historic preservation division, which this month recommended that the site's overseers be fined $200,000.

"It is evident that some remains were not examined in the respectful and sensitive manner required by law," the division's report says. "Examples of this include writing on a child's skull with indelible red ink, taping a child's teeth to an index car, using duct tape and modeling clay to hold remains together, and writing the words 'Handbag Louis Vuitton' on a paper sack that contained a human hand."

In January 2003, construction workers on the 10.5-acre site accidentally unearthed human remains that were more than 50 years old. A month later, a Native Hawaiian group filed a lawsuit against Wal-Mart that was settled out of court, allowing construction to continue. The Wal-Mart stores, the sixth in the state, opened in October 2004.

There were at least 42 graves—probably Native Hawaiian—on the site, which a state council recommended be relocated. In February 2004, the state historic preservation division required notification of discoveries of additional graves. Yet on July 17, 2004, the report contends, archaeologists removed another set of remains without telling the state. State workers witnessed other infractions.

"I went into the trailer with our staff, and we noticed that there were some human skulls lined up on the table that were glued together," says Melanie Chinen, administrator for the division. "They were writing on bones; that should not have occurred."

The Honolulu-based companies Aki Sinoto Consulting and the International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc., plan to fight the charges in a process that will begin next month.

"We unequivocally deny allegations made by the state Historic Preservation Division," Sinoto said in a statement. "Every single charge is without foundation."

The glued and scrawled bones have not been photographed because Native Hawaiian beliefs forbid it.

"That's part of our dilemma: The remains need to be reburied, but they are crucial pieces of evidence," Chinen says. "It's our hope that the appeals process goes smoothly and quicky so that these individuals may be reburied."

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