Hamilton Police seek to identify bone of contention

Hamilton Police will be consulting with a variety of forensic, Iwi and historical experts as they seek to identify the age of a human bone found underneath a Beerescourt home early this week.

Detective Senior Sergeant Karl Thornton of the Hamilton CIB said what appears to be a human bone was recovered from a dirt bank under a Macdiarmid Rd house on Monday by two residents.

"Initial thoughts were the bone may belong to an animal however analysis by a pathologist has identified it as a human thigh bone.

"The bone was found in a very dry and brittle state and as yet we have been unable to determine its age other than an estimate of it being between 20 and 100 years old."

Mr Thornton said a blessing was carried out of the site this morning by local Iwi which will be followed by a Hamilton City Council building inspector's inspection of the site to ensure it is safe to be excavated further.

"The Historic Places Trust has also been advised and we currently have an ESR forensic team on stand-by to examine the scene. While this is going on the bone will be subjected to further analysis by a forensic anthropologist.

Mr Thornton said there were no reports of missing persons or unaccounted for bodies that could be directly linked to Monday's recovery, nor were their known historical burial sites in the area.