The bones of Native Americans who once farmed in what is now western Arkansas are one step closer to returning to the earth after they were dug out of the ground.

The Arkansas-Democrat Gazette reports Sunday that the Ozark-St. Francis National Forest has completed an inventory of 28 sets of human remains and artifacts and determined that they are "culturally affiliated" with current-day tribes, the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma and the Osage Nation.

That means the bones can be claimed by the tribes and returned under the Native American Grave Repatriation Act.

In some cases, looters dug up centuries-old burial mounds and carted away the bones. In others, scientists found the gravesites while looking for clues about how American Indians lived and died in the past.