KNIK, Alaska (KTVA-CBS 11 News) The discovery of a human grave at a Mat-Su construction site is bringing new controversy as officials try to figure out how to rebury the remains and continue with the project.

But a cemetery organization and the traditional chief of the area want the Mat-Su Borough to rebury the remains where they were and abandon the site completely.

We first told you about the skull that had been found earlier this month- at that time borough officials and the Knik Tribal Council told us there is no way they could have dug up a grave because they had taken so many steps to prevent it.

September 21st, after finding the rest of the body, Mat-Su valley officials admitted they dug up a grave, and tonight some are urging them to do what they call the right thing.

Workers trying to dig a foundation for the historic Herning Warehouse discovered a human skull on August 15th. All work stopped until they got the green light to search for the rest of the body.

"They had a backhoe in there scraping it. They had 4 people looking and they didn't find anything," says LeRoi Heaven, president of the Wasilla Knik Historical Society. "Then they said go ahead and square the hole up, and that's where they found it."

The rest of the body was unearthed September 19th, about 6 feet down wrapped in birch bark and wood.

According to the state archaeologist the remains are likely that of a Native male in his early 20's who died 75 to 100 years

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ago.

In a statement released by the Borough, Debra Call, president of the Knik Tribal Council tried to explain why a person would be buried there. "If the person died in the winter the person may have been buried by women and children because the men were out hunting. This would have resulted in a shallow grave behind a building."

Now the Mat-Su Borough says it will pay for the body's DNA testing and reinternment.

"We have committed to making sure that the remains are reinterned at an appropriate site," say Eileen Probasco, acting director of Mat-Su Borough Planning & Land Use.

But some say the appropriate site for the remains is right where they came from.

"I think that they should leave it there because there is about 20 to 30 or 40 more graves near there and he was buried with their family," explains traditional Knik chief Paul Theodore.

At the time the young man died it was common practice to bury people in family groups. Because there are old pictures and documents referring to more graves in the area Chief Theodore and Nancy Sult of the group Friends of Old Knik want things put back the way the way they were.

"To ignore the rest of them now would be even worse than they have already done." Says Sult, "They don't need to be disturbed. They could just put him back, fill the hole and just put the fence back up and leave them alone."

The Wasilla Knik Historical Society says that wont happen.

"I don't agree with that at all because that is not an official cemetery," says Heaven.

Officials say even if there are more bodies there they wont be found because the Borough is not planning to do any more digging on the property, and the Historical Society is unlikely to look for more remains.

"I don't know if there is any more," says Heaven, "We're not going to be digging anywhere else we were only allowed to do that one building."

Throughout the summer Nancy Sult put up crosses and flowers to mark the area as a burial site.

But those who own and lease the property say she and the crosses she hangs are a nuisance, and are sending the wrong message about what they're doing. So no trespassing signs were put up around the entire property to keep everyone out.

"She has cost the Historical Society and the Borough and everybody a lot of money with this kind of thing," explains Heaven, "She just happened to be right this time that there was a body there."

Sult and Chief Theodore have been told the State Troopers will arrest them if they set foot on the property.

But they say what the Borough and the Historical Society are doing is wrong too. "They'd be up in arms if we did that- if we put no trespassing signs up so they couldn't prey for their own people," says Chief Theodore, "That's wrong."

Officials say once the reinternment papers come through, the body will be moved, DNA tested, and reburied, all on the Borough's dime.

Until then, both sides say they will continue to try to do what's right.

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