battle ensued as Indian tribes attempted to claim the remains under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act in order to prevent further testing and bury the remains according to tribal customs. Numerous historical and scientific examinations were conducted as the legal claims were litigated. Ultimately, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in February 2004 that the remains were not unequivocally Native American and therefore would not be given to the tribal litigants, and that testing of the remains could continue. In July 2005, a team of scientists from around the country studied the bones, which remain in the Burke Museum in Seattle and legally are the property of the Corps of Engineers.