Police told skull uncovered under a Balgowlah house may be a family relic
A human skull found on a northern beaches’ demolition site may be a historic family relic from decades ago.
Manly
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A human skull unearthed by an excavator on a house demolition site on the northern beaches may be a historic family relic, police have been told.
The skull, with its lower jaw and top teeth missing, was discovered in the bucket of a digger working on the property in North Harbour St, Balgowlah.
Property owner Jon Dobell told the Manly Daily on Monday that police had been advised that the previous owners of the house may have kept a skull decades ago.
Mr Dobell is building a new house on the site, which sits on the edge of North Harbour, and having the old building demolished.
On Friday afternoon excavator operator Nazareth Stevenson unearthed the skull while picking up old bricks mixed with top soil.
Mr Stevenson, of Mona Vale, said he was shocked when he realised that what he originally thought was a piece of sandstone, was actually human remains.
“I was picking up the bricks and soil and then sifting the material through the bucket when I saw something that looked a bit funny,” he said.
At first I thought it was a lump of sandstone, but while I was sifting, it broke into four parts.
“I had a closer look and it looked human.
“I could see it was the top half of a human skull, with the lower jaw and top teeth missing.
“The skull was just below the bricks. It wasn’t deep in the ground.”
Mr Stevenson immediately stopped work and called over the worksite supervisor and foreman and showed them what he had discovered.
All work on the site was suspended while police were called. Workers were sent home early just before detectives from the Northern Beaches Police Area Command arrived and sealed off the site with police tape.
Mr Stevenson said the remains were “very dark brown and old looking”.
“It looked like it had been there a long time.”
Mr Dobell said he had been told by a person who knew the family that previously owned the home and that one of the family members owned a skull.
“Apparently this person had a skull and it was well known that he used to have it somewhere in the house,” he said.
“The police have been told about this.”
Detectives sent the remains to the police Forensics Services Group to confirm if the skull was human and to assist with identity.
Northern Beaches Police Crime Manager Mick Boutouridis said today that detectives had been speaking with the owners, and descendants of the former owners, of the property about the discovery.
“We are waiting on the forensics’ results,” Insp. Boutouridis said.
Work will resume at the building site on Tuesday.
