Larry Kline Havre Daily News lkline@havredailynews.com
A University of Montana anthropologist will examine human remains found Wednesday near Rudyard at what the Hill County Sheriff’s Office believes could be a Native American burial site. “It appears to be bones that have been there for a very long time,” Sheriff Greg Szudera said today. The skeletal remains, which Szudera said include most of the bones found in a human body, were found by a landowner in a shallow grave covered with stones on property near the Marias River. Szudera said the site included possible Native American artifacts, including beadwork. The remains have been sent to the state crime lab in Missoula. In a telephone interview, state Forensic Science Division administrator Bill Unger said the bones will be turned over to UM anthropology professor Randall Skelton for archeological examination. Unger said the timeline for results depends on the remains’ condition but said it often doesn’t take long for Skelton to make a determination of the bones’ age. Skelton could not be reached for comment today. Unger said the crime lab typically receives about four such cases a year, often during construction season. In April 2004, American Indian remains were unearthed by a bulldozer in North Havre at the west end of 15th Street North. The UM anthropology department concluded that the bones were those of a male who probably died of natural causes, and that he was buried sometime between the 14th and 19th centuries. Those remains were given to the Montana State Historical Society to be turned over to an American Indian group for burial.
