Skull fragment found in Fayette County dated to 4,270 years ago

Fayette County officials said on Monday that a partial human skull found on a riverbank in June has been radiocarbon dated to about 4,270 years old, placing it around 2300 B.C. The remains were recovered on June 2 from the bank of the Whitewater River near Connersville, about 65 miles east of Indianapolis, Fayette County Coroner Eddie Richardson said in a social media post on Oct. 13.

Richardson said a local landowner discovered the fragment in June and reported it to the sheriff's office. The University of Indianapolis Human Identification Center assisted in preliminary analysis, and a portion of the skull was sent on Sept. 17 to the Center for Applied Isotope Studies at the University of Georgia. Testing there, using Carbon-14 dating, returned the estimate of roughly 4,270 years before present. Dr. Krista Latham and other researchers also participated in the identification work, officials said.

"This discovery underscores the importance of our community's vigilance and the necessity of professional collaboration," Richardson wrote, adding that he wanted to "commend the landowner for their responsible action in immediately reporting the finding." The coroner's office framed the...