Remains in Alaska could be 1,000 years old

updated 3:49 p.m. ET Aug. 25, 2009

BARROW, Alaska - Construction workers doing excavation for a new wastewater treatment plant in Alaska unearthed the remains of three people believed to be members of a tribal group that lived in Alaska more than 1,000 years ago.

The Arctic Sounder newspaper reports that archeologists won't be certain how old the remains are until radiocarbon dating is done.

They think the bodies were members of the Ipiutak, a tribal group that lived in Alaska from about 500 to 900.

City administrator Janet Mitchell says the remains are being kept by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium until the excavation concludes.

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