It will be at least several months before two archaeological firms and their employees learn if they will need to pay a $210,000 fine as a result of actions on the construction site of the Wal-Mart/Sam's Club complex on Ke'eaumoku Street.

The state Board of Land and Natural Resources yesterday deferred a decision on the fine after an attorney for Aki Sinoto Consulting, the International Archaeological Research Institute and individuals involved with the two companies filed for a contested case hearing, a quasi-judicial proceeding that allows opposing sides in an issue to present more facts and arguments than under normal circumstances.

The state Historic Preservation Division is recommending that the board fine the archaeologists for tampering with human remains, or iwi, on the site. Among the infractions cited by the agency were "writing on a child's skull with indelible red ink, taping a child's teeth to an index card, using duct tape and modeling clay to hold remains together and writing the words 'Handbag Louis Vuitton' on a paper sack that contained a human hand."

The board expects to approve the hiring of a hearing officer next month, and proceedings will start no earlier than January.

The parties in a contested case hearing can subpoena witnesses and documents, as well as interrogate the opposition. At the conclusion, the hearing officer issues a recommendation to the Land Board, which makes the final decision.

A joint statement issued yesterday by the archaeologists strongly denied the allegations made by the Historic Preservation Division. "We are shocked and dismayed that the SHPD would make such irresponsible allegations and take an extremely adversarial position against us," the statement said. "We are professionals and carried out our work in the most professional manner possible to insure full compliance with applicable statutes and regulations."

The statement also criticized the Historic Preservation Division. "These charges are the result of SHPD's deliberate and callous disregard of its own procedures and advice from its now depleted professional staff," it said.

Besides unauthorized tampering and removal of the bones, the parties were accused of failing to notify the proper authorities about the inadvertent find of human remains in a timely fashion, moving human remains without permission and failing to examine human skeletal remains in a respectful manner.

Native Hawaiians claiming to be cultural descendants of the area have been split on the case, and that divide continued yesterday.

Moses Haia, an attorney for the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. which represents clients critical of the handling of the remains who had filed a lawsuit, said he was disappointed that people who had shown up yesterday to testify on the proposed fines were not allowed to testify.

Edward Halealoha Ayau, one of Haia's clients and a cultural descendant, said he plans to ask his attorneys to seek participation in the contested case hearing.

"We're actually outraged by the actions of the archaeologists and anthropologists in this case," Ayau said. "They requested permission to glue the remains, were denied permission in writing and then did it anyway. How much more blatant can you get?"

Regina Keana'aina, a cultural descendant who worked voluntarily with Sinoto, said she does not believe the archaeologists are at fault.

She criticized opponents "who keep delaying the reinterment of our iwi kupuna by misleading and misrepresenting the data of the qualified archaeologists and others."

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.