Utah Man. Saint George, Utah

Saint George Skull

Xpeditions Magazine was recently sent the follow information exchange between scientists. The discovery of an odd skull, thousands of years old and of an unknown race, has prompted quite an inquiry. We invite interested parties to contact the researchers for more information. Their information is included below. It is interesting this skull was discovered in the same area as the giants and other unusual artifacts are being found. Saint George.

Southern Utah Skull from XpeditionsMagazine.com.

Colleagues, I have gotten word back on that skull discovered in St. George. Turns out that it’s a quite significant find, according to one expert, “the most unique skull I’ve ever seen.” She says it appears to be thousands of years old, has a couple of healed skull fractures, and strangely seems to be sort of a mixture of African and Native American (which really makes no sense, right?). She was unable to point out strong differences between the skull and some sort of undiscovered Neanderthal, other than the size of the mandible and the size of the (missing) teeth. She agreed that it was male and died around age late 40s or early 50s. No osteological diseases were apparent. So what is it? It has not been dated, so the next step seems to be getting it into the hands of a physical anthropology expert (our expert is a forensic anthropologist) for dating, either from U of Utah or perhaps the Smithsonian Institution, if they are interested. Amazing that I held it in my own hands, and showed it to all of my students last Friday. It is the poorly understood remains of someone who lived where I do, yet lived a vastly different (much more difficult!) life than my own here. And what was the ancestry of this person? The questions continue….
Curt Walker, PhD Dixie College St. George, UT

 What about the cranium’s “2-inch-thick” occipital bone? That’s not normal even for a Neanderthal. Where did it come from, again? I would be VERY hesitant to accept such a narrow age range (late 40s to early 50s) from looking only at the cranium. (It’s just a cranium, right? A “skull” is the cranium and mandible.) Also, metric data are imperative for judging “race” (ethnic affinity), not simply gross morphological observations. A radiocarbon date is what you’re looking for, next. Let us know! Melinda

There is a picture of the skull in our local paper, but I don’t have a scanner. Perhaps over the holiday break I can get it scanned on my colleague’s scanner and send it around. I suppose it’s possible that The Spectrum, our local paper, has a website with the picture, but I don’t have time to look for it (final exams, meetings, sleep, etc.). By the way, my own pet (wishful thinking) theory that it was some sort of undiscovered North American Neanderthal seems about as farfetched as ever. I studied some skull descriptions and pics last night, and this skull is missing some of the classic Neanderthal features. Cheers, Curt

. . .”huge brow ridges and a sloping forehead, just like a Neanderthal skull? By the way, the skull came from a mature adult, perhaps 50 or so.

Acromegaly, or pituitary gigantism, can cause gross enlargement of brow ridges and facial features, but usually the changes are REALLY extreme.

Two inches thick? That’s REALLY thick.
To: HAPP-L@scimath.imperial.cc.ca.us

Colleagues, I have gotten word back on that skull discovered in St. George. Turns out that it’s a quite significant find, according to one expert, “the most unique skull I’ve ever seen.” She says it appears to be thousands of years old, has a couple of healed skull fractures, and strangely seems to be sort of a mixture of African and Native American (which really makes no sense, right?). She was unable to point out strong differences between the skull and some sort of undiscovered Neanderthal, other than the size of the mandible and the size of the (missing) teeth.

No osteological diseases were apparent. So what is it? It has not been dated, so the next step seems to be getting it into the hands of a physical anthropology expert (our expert is a forensic anthropologist) for dating, either from U of Utah or perhaps the Smithsonian Institution, if they are interested.

Amazing that I held it in my own hands, and showed it to all of my students last Friday. It is the poorly understood remains of someone who lived where I do, yet lived a vastly different (much more difficult!) life than my own here. And what was the ancestry of this person? The questions continue….
Curt Walker, PhD
Dixie College
St. George, UT

“Curt, I once had the opportunity to study a skull with very prominent supraorbital margins and a severely sloping forehead.”

Source:Xpeditions Magazine

S8int.com contacted Curt Walker, Phd to determine if this story was true: his reply:”Yes, There really was a strange skull. Appeared to my very amateurish eye to be similar to a Neanderthal, which of course is just about impossible. Probably a black man with a somewhat strangely shaped head. Died of unclear causes a fairly long time ago here in the St. George area.

I’m not sure where the skull ended up.”

http://s8int.com/giants10.html