HAENA, Kauai » Contractors did not follow an approved plan to protect skeletal remains while building a home on Kauai's north shore in August, a state archaeologist said yesterday.

Nancy McMahon, archaeologist and the former interim director of the state Historic Preservation Division, said contractors were given a written reprimand in September for not following the plan when they poured a concrete slab over seven graves instead of individual concrete jackets to protect them. But McMahon said the bones had not been harmed.

The site of the home, an oceanfront lot on Naue Point, has been the source of protests, vigils, arrests, lawsuits and numerous heated discussions in front of county and state boards and commissions, including the Kauai/Niihau Burial Council on Thursday. The council, which objects to construction of a house on the property, decided to reject the current burial treatment plan.

Contractors for the homeowner, California businessman Joseph Brescia, were supposed to put three-sided concrete jackets over the seven burial chambers underneath the home.

Instead, McMahon said yesterday, contractor Galante Construction of Kapaa was worried that any work along the edges of the graves could damage the bones. Instead, workers poured a concrete cap atop the graves so as not to further disturb them.

Any changes to the plan, however, should have been approved by McMahon. Plus, work should have been halted, probably for two weeks, to give her a chance to review an amended treatment plan, she said.

“;It would've been fine if they called me,”; she added. “;If they told me, I might have approved it.”;

A recent court case sent the burial treatment plan back to the burial council.

A Circuit judge ruled in September that McMahon did not adequately get the council's input before coming up with a burial treatment plan.

In April, the council decided to preserve the graves in place, but opinions from councilmembers vary on whether that decision meant to keep the bones underneath the house or reject the plan altogether. Although the council's ideas are taken into consideration, it is the Historic Preservation Division that ultimately has the final say.

McMahon testified in August that the graves had been protected on all three sides, as per the agreement. However, after receiving a request from the county, McMahon found the concrete had been poured only on top. The lack of protection on the sides could potentially cause underground utilities to come into contact with the burial chambers, she added.

McMahon said she is working with native Hawaiian groups and Brescia's contractors informally, via e-mail and small meetings, to discuss an amended burial treatment plan.

The plan should be done in a couple of weeks.

Nani Rogers, one of dozens of protesters over the past few months at the site, said the cemetery should be protected and the concrete should be removed. She said she will file paperwork with the Kauai Planning Commission, asking them to rescind Brescia's permits for not following the conditions of the burial plan, which was one of the conditions of the permit.

“;We've been deceived. We've been duped. We've been lied to,”; Rogers said. “;We said reject (the plan) from the beginning. This was not a good burial plan.”;

Calls requesting comment from Brescia's attorney, Walton Hong, or Rogers' attorney, Alan Murakami of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., were not returned yesterday.