Utah Boy Finds Human Remains In Salt Lake City Backyard

Utah Boy Finds Human Remains in Dad’s Salt Lake City Backyard

A 14-year-old boy digging a trout pond in his backyard unearthed a 1,000-year-old mystery.

Ali Erturk had been digging the hole in his Salt Lake City backyard for about two weeks when he found a piece of bone. Then he found what looked to be a skull.

His father called police, who confirmed it was likely the remains of an American Indian.

“When I saw it looked like a human skull, then it definitely was a bit creepy. … It kind of stayed in the back of my mind even when I wasn’t digging the pond, going to sleep, it was in the back of my mind that it was human remains,” Erturk said of his discovery.

The Utah Department of Heritage spent most of Friday at the site, confirming that the bones dated back some 1,000 years and likely belonged to an American Indian from the region.

Erturk stumbled upon the archeological site when he was expanding a section of the pond to make it a bit deeper. He noticed the first bone about six feet below the surface.

American Indian remains aren’t uncommon in Utah—groups like the Shoshone and the Utes have lived there for 10,000 years—but private-property findings are always a bonus.

Agencies/Canadajournal