Century-old human bone found in dog park

By Heather Leah

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    ROCKY MOUNT, North Carolina (WRAL) — A human bone was uncovered in a dog park in Rocky Mount on Wednesday morning.

A resident found the bone at Best Friends Dog Park around 7:20 a.m.

The Rocky Mount Police Department Evidence Unit teamed up with the State Bureau of Investigation and a Forensic Anthropologist from East Carolina University.

According to the anthropologist, the extensive weathering of the bone indicates it’s historical – estimated to be around 100 years old.

Many questions remain about how a human bone – especially a historic one – could have ended up in the dog park. Some locals are beginning to look at the history of the land for clues to how a bone may have gotten there.

Many parks and neighborhoods around the state were built over land originally used as family farms in the 1800s and early 1900s. Historians are looking into whether or not the land was once used for a family cemetery, or if perhaps unmarked graves could be in the area that off-leash dogs or other animals could have potentially gotten into.

Other locals recall the year 1999, when Hurricane Floyd flooded the area near Duke Circle, which is where the modern day park resides. The location near the Tar River and historic flood could have surfaced human remains in the surrounding areas, which had simply been in the wooded areas, unnoticed until now in the park, which spans nearly 10 acres.

The human bone is still being investigated. WRAL News will provide updates as they are released.

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