Army, Pawnee Nation sign agreement at Fort Riley

(Fort Riley-AP) -- A new agreement signed at Fort Riley is intended to help safeguard the remains of any Pawnee Indians who may be buried on the Kansas Army post grounds. <br><br>The pact was signed

Wednesday, April 12th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(Fort Riley-AP) -- A new agreement signed at Fort Riley is intended to help safeguard the remains of any Pawnee Indians who may be buried on the Kansas Army post grounds.

The pact was signed yesterday by Major General Freddy McFarren, the Fort Riley commander, and Robert Chapman, president of the business council of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma. The agreement makes official what was ordered by Congress under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

A team of archeologists is identifying and studying historic sites on the 100-thousand acre post. Team leader Dick Shields says they've surveyed about half the land -- so far finding 217 prehistoric archeological sites. He says Indians lived on the land for 8,000 years so the possibility of finding burial sites is high.