There is controversy brewing in the Mat-Su Valley over a skull that was found at a construction site.

Some say the site is a known Dena'ina graveyard. Others say there is no way anyone could have known the skull was there.

To get to the bottom of how this could have happened you have to start from the beginning.

Back in the 1900s gold rush Knik was the port for the gold coming out of Hatcher's Pass, and White traders and homesteaders lived side by side with Dena'ina Athabascans. But when Anchorage became the port of choice, people moved out of Knik and modern development swallowed up the old village.

"Alaska is just a state that is growing in population and development and certainly the Mat-Su Borough has experienced it more than any other part of the state," says Debra Call, president of the Knik Tribal Council, "We are the village right in the middle of it."

Recently the Mat-Su Borough, the Wasilla Knik Historical Society and the Knik Tribal Council teamed up to preserve the historic Knik Herning warehouse- one of the last buildings that is still standing from Southcentral's gold rush days.

In order to save the building it needed a foundation. The group decided behind the Knik Museum was the best place for it.

"The site looked like a worthy site to put a foundation for the warehouse," says Patty Sullivan, director of communications for the Mat-Su Borough.

Two years ago, before the project even started, the Borough teamed up with the U.S. Forest Service to try to see what was beneath the surface. They used ground penetrating radar on known graves then on the dig site, and did not see anything that looked like a grave.

Cultural resources specialist Linda Yarborough, Ph.D. was hired to do the ground penetrating radar for the Borough. The EyeTeam questioned her about the results.

Yarborough: "We were aware of the cemetery and that there were graves in the area- we'd seen early maps of the area."

Andrea Gusty: "But there was nothing to indicate there was anything at this particular dig site?"

Yarborough: "No, there wasn't."

The problem was- the conditions were not ideal for ground penetrating radar to show an accurate picture.

"The graphs and the images that they showed us, you couldn't make it out." Says Raymond Theodore, president of Knik Atnu, Inc.

The ground is too wet to show much, and fill dirt covered the entire area, making the radar images hard to read.

"It is not as exact a science as we wish it was. It can be very helpful, but it isn't always exact," says Yarborough. "There is really no way to know for sure what is in the ground until an excavation has begun."

Once the excavation began a human skull and jawbone were uncovered. "They did find some human remains, and work stopped immediately." Says Sullivan.

"It was the worst possible scenario in my mind," says Call, "It was what we worked very hard to have not happen."

The big question is now; did anyone know there were human remains there?

The Borough and the Knik Tribal council say there is no way they could of known, but the traditional chief for the area and the group- Friends Of Old Knik- both say the Borough was told multiple times that people were buried there.

"Alice Theodore said there were 40 of them here, and they found one." Says Nancy Sult with Friends Of Old Knik.

Friends Of Old Knik, a group that has been marking the graves in the area in order to protect them has been working with Paul Theodore, the last traditional chief in the area. It was the chief's mother, Alice Theodore, who first told him the graves were there.

"I was about 5 years old, and I fell over there, and I landed on top of there, and my mom was scared." Says Chief Theodore, "She said don't go over there, there's graves there."

Alice Theodore did not only tell her son.

In a State of Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys memo from June 13, 1983, an archaeologist noted Alice Theodore told him there were 40 Native graves directly behind the old Knik hall, which is now the Knik Museum. She told the archaeologist the graves were covered up when Knik Goose Bay road was built.

The Mat-Su Borough, Knik Tribal Council and Wasilla Knik Historical Society were all send a copy of the memo.

"This was a cemetery, it is a cemetery, and they disturbed it." Says Sult.

"That they would desecrate our sacred place when they were told it was there, and there is still a lot more there, I think that's the worst thing they could do," says Chief Theodore, "It shows really great disrespect to any people."

But the Borough and the Tribal Council say ground penetrating radar did not detect anything. Plus they say it is unlikely Dena'ina would have buried their dead there.

"Looking at the map and realizing it was right in a swamp, I have a hard time believing the person was just buried right there," says Dena'ina cultural historian Aaron Leggett.

Instead they say the skull was likely brought in with the dirt. When Knik Goose Bay Road was put in, much of the village of Knik was razed and dirt in the entire area was moved around.

"When the new road went in, they just bulldozed everything away and there was no cultural consultation with anybody to do what they needed to do," says Call.

"Unfortunately, we have learned to adapt to this kind of this kind of development," says Leggett.

The same kind of development is going on all over the Mat-Su Borough. Roads, subdivisions and even the Knik Arm Bridge threaten traditional more gravesites.

"There's too much of our culture being destroyed here." Says Chief Theodore.

As for this project, it is one of the first times Dena'ina people have been consulted before a dig, and they did it by the book. Tribal leadership says there was not much more they could do.

"That is somebody's soul, yes. We don't know who." Says Call. "We're coping and doing the best we can."

The State Medical Examiner's office is working right now to figure out who the skull belongs to. Mat-Su Borough officials after that they will continue building the foundation for the historic warehouse.

If that happens, The Friends of Old Knik say they will sue to stop it.

To contact Andrea Gusty, call 907-273-3146.