EASTVILLE, VA. (AP) -- For a decade, the bones of 10 Eastern Shore Indians unearthed during construction for a housing development sat in a laboratory, where attempts to determine their age and origin failed.

On Saturday, in a silent, sacred ceremony at Indian Town Park, the Clan Mothers of the Assateague Peoples laid the remains to rest again.

During a three-hour ceremony attended by about 50 mourners, seven Clan Mothers passed each set of bones around a circle of land just outside the area of land that had been made sacred during an earlier ceremony.

The women prayed and cried over the bones, which were wrapped in bundles of red cloth and laden with gifts of feathers and hand-made instruments, before leading a procession down a short path to the burial site.

"To know that your ancestors' bones are being stored in aluminum foil, in beer boxes in dark closets instead of properly buried, hurts beyond what any words could describe," said Deer Eyes Haase, a member of the Apache tribe. "Finally, to be treated like human beings and have the ancestors back where they belong is both a joy and a sorrow."

The bones were found on the Arlington Plantation, a 1,000-acre lot once owned by businessman John Custis, during excavation for the development.

Tests failed to further identify the remains, but the Assateague Peoples believed they should be re-intered out of respect for their ancestors.

At the burial site, each of the mourners was given a chance to present a gift that would be buried with the bones.

"My gift is a stone, that to me, turns negative energy into positive energy," said Sara Whipple, who traveled from Carroll County in Maryland for the ceremony. "I think that's what these bones need most."