Most shocking find ever

Smilodon

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Apr 4, 2011
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I am just recovering from covid and I am cleared out of isolation. I am out walking the river banks, just happy to get out of the house and hopefully find a bottle or something. I live in Charleston SC and just about anywhere you go, history can be found. This specific area I have found Civil and Rev war items, many bottles and some occasional odds and ends. Heck the one day I found a 50.00 bill and could not wait to have it displayed in my man cave. Long story short, my wife spent it. Anyway back to what this is all about, I walked a couple miles and started to turn around and something caught me eye. I wasn't sure what it was but it looked like pig teeth, I didn't have much on me except a knife and began digging around it. I certainly was not prepared to be dig up something. I moved aside some seaweed and noticed another row of a few teeth ( this is when I snapped a photo). Well with the tide coming in an I was not wearing glasses I did not realize what I was digging. To me I still thought I was digging a palate of a peccary or pig, it also made it difficult due to the tide kept coming in and filling up everything I just cleared.

Once I was confident I had enough removed from the sides I put my hand in the murky salt water and to my shock I pulled a human skull from the hole. Well i dropped it, said some choice words and jumped away from it. I never thought in a million years I would ever find something like this, but I also figured the best thing to do was contact the police. Well with no cell tower I carried it back to my car and contacted the police. I figured I would go for a short walk and ended up spending many hours with the police. My hope is that it could give some family closure or help the solve a case. We waited for the coroner but they were unable to make it so they took the skull as they where also unsure of the jurisdiction. I was told they would be in touch as well as I may get some questions from the coroner.

They did ask why I did not leave it where I found it, but after they realized it was tide dependent they agreed that I did the right thing. I dont think I will ever forget this find and it is by far my most memorable find to date. I have been asked so many times what is the strangest thing I ever found, well I have the perfect answer now. Has anyone else ever found anything like this?

Also if you have any input on the age or something please let me know.
 

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releventchair

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May 9, 2012
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Hard for laymen to guess an age.
Soil conditions ,minerals ect. and more can factor.
Human remains turn up near water on occasion. Some fresh, and some very old. Often a surprise like in your case!
 

Noah_D

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Very interesting and unusual find. If you get any info about age or where it came from keep us posted!
 

jeff of pa

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smokeythecat

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I would have had to change my pants. The missing teeth were lost after death. There is no healing where the teeth used to be. Bone would have filled in the areas. I know because I spend half my life at the dentist's office. Another thing. No fillings so I am guessing a younger person and the skull is at least 100 years old. No applause necessary.
 

ARC

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Now that is one thing I have never found... nor ever known a detectorist to have found one either.

Crazy hobby aint it ? heh

I have found tons of dead stuff... just never like that. all animal related.
 

lenmac65

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Very creepy... yikes!
 

smokeythecat

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A few years ago in the fall I found a skull in the base of an old tree - fortunately it was made of plastic, but there for just a minute...
 

housemom6

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That's crazy. Please keep us up-to-date on any news you get
 

FallColors

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I remember reading about hurricanes flooding cemeteries in that region and displacing bodies. Donald "Pee Wee' Gaskins (the serial killer) travelled in that area, too. :laughing7:
 

cudamark

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The closest I've come is some false teeth and animal skeletons or parts thereof. Quite a find. Keep us posted on what the police and coroner find out.
 

Rege-PA

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Teeth are in pretty good condition, as mentioned no dental work. Could be native American and old, maybe up to 300 t0 500 years. Lower jaw would have been a more telling piece as there is a trait that is more common in native Americans to identify.
No cavities suggests a more protein than starch diet, when corn became the staple diet cavities resulted, Huron diet pre- contact had a 60 to 70% starch diet. That`s eating alot of corn. This is all speculation by me..........interesting!
 

Squirrel322

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That is pretty wild.....

I’ve often wondered about the people who lost the things I’ve found but I’ve never found someone and wondered how they were lost......

Keep us posted if you receive more information.
 

OP
OP
Smilodon

Smilodon

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Wow, thanks for the input, The one tooth did have a cavity on the side, you cant tell from the pictures, but other than that the teeth were really not worn at all. I will keep everyone posted when I hear anything and hopefully can find a final resting place for these remains.
 

Back-of-the-boat

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The cemetery where my Grandfather is buried, it turns out it has an underground river that has moved all the caskets and they assume that a few have migrated under the highway next to the cemetery. This was found out when they went to dig a new grave and dug into three caskets. So the possibility of the skull being from someone who has already been buried could be a possibility if a Hurricane had in fact created a flood through a cemetery.
 

Gene Mean

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Very interesting. Let us know what comes of it.
 

Digger RJ

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Ohhhhh!! That would definitely make Your head spin for a minute!!! Good job on contacting the Police!
 

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