(WWJ/AP) A mystery of yesteryear is unfolding in northern Michigan.
Officials are talking with Native American groups to help determine what to do with prehistoric human remains discovered at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park along Lake Michigan in Empire.
Empire is about 30 miles west of Traverse City.
The park’s superintendent told the Associated Press a visitor found the remains in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore three years ago, took them out of the park and returned them a year later.
A medical examiner and researchers at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo analyzed the bones and identified them as most likely tied to prehistoric Native American populations.
The Detroit Free Press reports that erosion caused by high levels of water in the lake may have caused the bones to be exposed after thousands of years.
The park’s superintendent said he would like the tribes to determine how to properly handle and place the remains.