Bone Sites Verified at Bolsa Chica Wetlands : Artifacts: Native Americans say planned development is on burial ground. It’s not known if bones are human.

More than 20 concentrations of bones lie in the path of a major housing development that the Koll Real Estate Group wants to build near the Bolsa Chica wetlands, according to a study commissioned by the Orange County coroner’s office.

Coroner’s officials acknowledged the findings Monday, noting that it could be months before it can be determined whether the bones belonged to humans or animals.

However, one set of human bones believed to be about 8,000 years old was found at the site in 1992. And word of this most recent discovery has lent some credence to the arguments of Native American leaders, who say the 7.4-acre parcel may have once been a prehistoric Indian burial site.

“If it’s a dedicated cemetery, that’s it!” said Jim Velasques, chief of the coastal Gabrieleno Shoshone tribe. “It’s sacred. You cannot dig up bones if you have six or more burials without the consent of the descendants.”

Koll officials said, however, that the most recent discovery of the bones would not affect their plans for a 4,286-home development proposed for 400 acres near the wetlands.

“There’s no question that the site is of great importance to the ancient history of Orange County,” said Lucy Dunn, a senior vice president. “But we’ve designed the most sensitive plan that can possibly be designed. . . . It’s not likely that a redesign will be necessary.”

The map obtained from the coroner’s office details at least 20 sites where bone matter has been found. It was prepared for the Koll Real Estate Group by Nancy Whitney-Desautels, an archeologist excavating the site.

While state law does not expressly forbid the destruction of Native American cemeteries, experts say, public pressure could persuade county officials to require the developer to make major modifications in the project to preserve the site.

The issue first drew fire last month when opponents of the project began circulating a memo written by a forensic anthropologist hired by the Orange County coroner’s office to examine the bones found at the site in 1992. In the memo, Judy Myers Suchey, a faculty member at Cal State Fullerton, described the handful of human bones she had seen as “very old, approximately 8,000 years,” and therefore of serious interest to archeologists.

Angered that no mention of the find had been made in the county’s draft environmental impact report released last year, project opponents gathered en masse during a city hearing on the matter that attracted 600 residents.

Over the weekend, a group of Native Americans staged a protest on the steps of Huntington Beach City Hall, contending that they had been left in the dark regarding the disposition of their ancestors’ remains.

Copies of the map, which had not previously been made public, also were circulated at the demonstration. Prepared in August, 1993, the map is covered with marks indicating locations described in a legend as “known bone concentrations.”

What is not clear, Whitney-Desautels said Monday, is how many of the bones are animal and how many human. However, she did not rule out the possibility that the area was a Native American cemetery. She described it as “a difficult case” because the human bones discovered so far are tiny and intermingled with animal bones also found at the site.

A spokesman for the coroner’s office said that traditionally about 50% of the bones reported to Sheriff’s Department turn out to be those of animals. According to Whitney-Desautels, two of the more than 20 bone concentrations at Bolsa Chica have already been determined to be those of deer and dolphin. The rest are in laboratories being studied.

“We should know in about three months,” she said. “At this point it’s impossible to say how many (human) individuals are there.”

This latest development, however, seemed to have clear implications for Native Americans.

“These are the bones of our great ancestors,” said Martin Alcala, chairman of the Gabrieleno/Tongva Tribal Council. “They are culturally and spiritually significant to us. It would be the same as if we went into your graveyards and started digging up your ancestors.”