Man finds what appears to be human jawbone in Silver Lake.

Man finds what appears to be human jawbone in Silver Lake.

By Allison Scarbrough, Editor.

GOLDEN TOWNSHIP — A man was removing a dock from his property for the season on Silver Lake Sunday afternoon, Sept. 12, when he stepped on a sharp object.

“The resident reached below and pulled out of the water what appears to be a human jawbone,” said Oceana County Sheriff Craig Mast.

Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the man’s home in the 1300 block of North Shore Drive around 1 p.m. The bone was found in 2-3 feet of water about 4-8 feet from the shoreline.

“The bone was collected and will be sent to the MSU Anthropology Department for analysis and identification if possible,” said Sheriff Mast. “From all appearances, we believe it to be a human jawbone.”

It’s unknown if the jawbone is the remains of a female or male individual. It is also not immediately known how old the jawbone is. “It could be more ancient,” said Mast, possibly from a Native American settler of the area. But if it is determined to be recent remains and DNA can be pulled from it, it could be compared to the DNA of local missing persons who have dental records. The analysis process is lengthy, so it could be quite some time before anything could be determined.

The jawbone discovery is not the first time in recent history that skeletal remains have been found in the Silver Lake area.

A human femur bone discovered, Nov. 9, 2013 along the Lake Michigan shoreline near Juniper Beach has not been identified.

The femur was sent to the Michigan State Police crime lab for analysis. It was discovered by a man who was visiting the area, said Sheriff Mast.

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