Indian Country

Great Bend, Kansas (AP) July 2011

The Barton County Sheriff’s Office says a partial human skull found in December is that of an American Indian male who probably died before 1900.

The Great Bend Tribune reports a forensic anthropologist in Manhattan determined the remains were those of a man 35 to 45 years old, if not older.

Undersheriff Larry Holliday says the report didn’t pinpoint the period in which the man lived, but there was no modern dental work.

The skull was found Dec. 26 by duck hunters. It was missing the lower jaw and had only three teeth in the upper jaw.

The Sheriff’s Office says the skull will be sent to the Kansas State Historical Society’s Unmarked Burial Sites Board.