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China investigates source of scores of human skulls

Scores of human skulls, many of them with the top sawn off, have been found in a hillside forest in northwestern China, though it is unclear how or when the people died, police said yesterday.

The 121 skulls found on March 27 by a herdsman in Gansu Province showed severe head injuries, and the crowns of many had been sawn off or otherwise damaged, police in Gansu's capital Lanzhou said in a statement. The skulls were both male and female, young and old, the statement said.

Police later conducted DNA testing, which corroborated a local academic's earlier conclusion that the skulls were from humans, the Beijing Youth Daily said.

The police statement cited forensics expert Chen Shixian as saying that medical research had been ruled out and that the head injuries did not appear to have been the cause of death.

Experts are continuing their investigation into the origin of the skulls and what happened to the top portion of the skulls.

Officials at the command center investigating the case said that the most likely explanation was that the skulls were the discarded remains of a bizarre handicraft project that only used the top of the skulls, the Beijing News said.

A photo published on the Sohu.com Web portal showed rows of skulls with the tops cut off, some of which still had skin and facial hair on them.

The police statement did not give any indication of when the people died, though local media reports said the skulls were not thought to be very old.
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