The Choctaw Nation is asking Warren County in Mississippi to stop work on the local China Grove Road if any historic artifacts traced to Choctaw settlements centuries ago are found.
The action was requested in a letter sent to the county in June. Board of Supervisors President Bill Lauderdale tells the Vicksburg Post that such requests are standard in any project using federal funds. Lauderdale says contractors know what to do if any artifact is found. The county has received $598,888 in federal funds for work on the southeast Warren County thoroughfare.
Warren County is within the Choctaw's homeland, which covers large parts of Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, and is inside a 42,000 square-mile area ceded by theChoctaws to the United States by treaty in the early 19th century.