MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Native American tribes have signed an agreement that will help in the preservation of remains of tribe members discovered near the Birds Point-New Madrid floodway in Missouri.
Leaders of two Native American tribes, the Quapaw Tribe and the Delaware Nation, and Col. Vernie Riechling, commander of the Corps' Memphis district, signed a document called a Programmatic Agreement on Tuesday in Memphis.
Essentially, the agreement will help solidify lines of communication between the parties related to the handling of human skeletal remains found in the floodway.
The agreement comes after the remains of 25 prehistoric humans were found in the floodway after the Birds Point-New Madrid levee was blown during last year's historic flood of the Mississippi River.
(Copyright 2012 By The Associated Press. All Rights
Reserved.)
