Yard Excavated After Human Bone Found

A Costa Mesa yard was excavated after the owner raked up a human jawbone that had been buried there, police said Wednesday.

The discovery was made about 11 a.m. Sunday when the man, who has owned the house for about two years, was trying to do some concrete work in the backyard of his home in the 1900 block of Federal Avenue, said Lt. Dale Birney. Officials dug up his lawn, but no additional bones were found, Birney said.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department determined that the bone was part of a lower jaw. Anthropologists are examining the piece to determine its age and how long it had been buried.

“We’re still trying to figure out what’s going on,” Birney said.