A forensic anthropologist says those two skulls found in Callaway County last weekend appear to be of Native American women who died a long time ago, the Callaway County sheriff's office said today.
"The complete skull to be that of a female Native American, approximately 20-25 years of age at the time of death," the news release said. "Although the secondary skull cap is not applicable to complete analysis, it too is believed to be of a Native American.
"Both skulls were considerably old upon discovery."
There's no suspicion of any foul play, the sheriff's office said.
Some other remains found at the same time as the skull and partial skull "were determined to be from animals," the news release said.
The sheriff's release noted a contractor doing work in the Missouri River bottoms east of Jefferson City about 10 years ago, a contractor uncovered an old, Native American burial ground.
And, the sheriff noted, there have been several discoveries of human remains in the Missouri River bottoms, east of Jefferson City - especially in the last 20 years, after the record-setting Floods of 1993 washed out cemeteries upstream, sending caskets and remains downriver.