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Human Skull Found in Station Fire Burn Area

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In the Tujunga area during the Station Fire (Photo by Lynn.... via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr)

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Thursday evening a hiker in the Angeles National Forest reported finding a human skull on a hillside near mile marker 19.36,according to the Daily Breeze. The area in which the remains were found "near Lucas Creek, a steep drainage that feeds Big Tujunga Canyon above the Big Tujunga Dam," and was part of the burn area from September's massive Station Fire.However, while the skull was located in the vicinity of where the blaze raged through the landscape, Los Angeles County Coroner's Investigator Jerry McKibben believes it was not a fatality that occurred as part of the fire. "Just from the condition of the skull, it sounds like it was skeletonized before the fire. It's definitely a skull, not attached to the body."

Authorities returned to the area to search for additional remains, and will need the assistance of "forensic archaeologists and doctors," explained Detective Peter Hecht of the sheriff's Homicide Bureau, to identify the remains and determine what happened.

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