FLINT, MI -- The state wants to know if crews digging up water service lines in the area of an American Indian burial ground found human remains after an inspector discovered work being done without an archaeologist at 29 separate addresses in the city, according to a letter from a state official.

City contractors digging in an area bordered by Flushing Road and Fifth Avenue on the north, Court Street on the south, Saginaw Street on the east and Dupont Street on the west, did the work without the proper professional oversight -- contrary to a previous agreement involving the state, the city and the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan, states the letter.

The June 18 letter from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy to Flint Public Works Director Robert Bincsik is included in records pertaining to the Flint water crisis made available to the public on an ongoing basis.

The letter asks Bincsik to detail what digging was done in the area, steps taken to correct the oversight and the plan for future work in the area, which includes parts of Stone, Stockton, Patrick, Oak and North Stevenson streets, and West Second Avenue.

“Additionally, provide a statement summarizing interviews of all on-site personnel regarding artifacts, associated funerary objects, ancestral human remains, or burial grounds, if any, that were discovered during excavations,” Karol Patton of EGLE, formerly the Department of Environmental Quality, said in the letter to Bincsik.

MLive-The Flint Journal could not immediately reach Bincsik for comment on Friday, June 21, but city spokeswoman Candice Mushatt said no human remains were found by contractors.

The city has issued a request for proposals for an archaeologist so that excavation in the area can continue, Mushatt said in an email.

The Journal could not reach Sarah Jones, a representative of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, for comment.

The tribe’s Historic Preservation Office believes it’s likely crews discovered ancestral human remains or burial objects, according to the Patton letter.

Flint received approval from the state to excavate in areas where American Indian ancestral remains have been discovered in the past early last year, but that OK came with conditions.

Among them were including having a professional archaeologist on site to monitor the work, slowing down the pace of digging -- if necessary -- to allow the archaeologist on site to recognize any cultural or human remains that may have been exposed.

Last November, the company managing Flint’s service line replacements said it was postponing excavations in the city’s 5th Ward, which includes the burial area, and where some 95 percent of service lines have been found to to be made of lead.

Flint is in the process of replacing all lead and galvanized water service lines, which were damaged by corrosive water during the city’s water crisis. That work, being managed by Rowe Engineering, is expected to be completed this year.

The burial grounds were discovered in January 2008 on Stone Street, just south of University Avenue, while basements were being dug in the area.

The site was later identified as an archaeological zone by the State Historic Preservation Office.