Human Bone Found In Minnesota River Determined To Be Nearly 8,000 Years Old

A bone found in the Minnesota River last autumn is human and nearly 8,000 years old, according to the Renville County Sheriff’s Office.

According to the Renville County Sheriff’s Office, the bone was found by a pair of kayakers south of Sacred Heart in September 2021.  It was sent to the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office, which determined the bone came from a human.

The bone was then sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  A forensic anthropologist from the FBI examined the bone and concluded it had come from a young, adult male. The skull fragment had a depressed area in consistent with blunt force trauma.

“Through Carbon-14 analysis, preliminary information shows this individual would have been alive between 5,500 to 6,000 BCE (Before Common Era),” a Facebook post from the Renville County Sheriff’s Office says.  “That dates this bone almost 8,000 years!”

The Sheriff’s Office stated a carbon-14 review revealed the man had a heavy marine diet or a diet high in maize, pearl millet, or sorghum, which is outside the range of the North American diet.