The leader of the Hawaiian group given custody of a century-old set of burial artifacts yesterday said the group properly reburied the items, and is upset at implications that it mishandled the artifacts.

Kunani Nihipali, the po'o (head) of Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawai'i Nei, issued the group's first detailed response to reports that some of the artifacts had surfaced at a Kona district shop offering them for sale.

In the written statement, Nihipali countered what he described as efforts to "slander" through implications that the organization had not reburied the artifacts in their original resting place, Kanupa Cave in Kohala.

"All iwi kupuna (ancestral human remains) and moepu (funerary objects) from Kanupa Cave that were repatriated to us from the Peabody Essex Museum and the Bishop Museum were ceremonially returned to their place of origin," Nihipali said.

"We support federal efforts to investigate any such sale of Hawaiian cultural items."