Bones

The Department of Defense acknowledged Friday that bones claimed by the Vietnamese government to be remains of Air Force Col. John L. Robertson were "non-human mammal remains." But as he confirmed statements made by Robertson's family, Cmdr. Ned Lundquist, a Pentagon spokesman who specializes in POW-MIA affairs, said military researchers still believe the flier was killed when his F-4C crashed nearly 25 years ago in North Vietnam.

Police announced Wednesday that they have identified human bones found in Oceanside as those of a 79-year-old Huntington Beach woman who disappeared three years ago and may have been slain. The remains were found Aug. 5 by two boys in a ravine. A forensic anthropologist identified the remains as those of Evelyn Hirth of Huntington Beach, Police Lt. Ed McErlain said Wednesday. Examiners could not determine the cause of death or when she died, he added.

Most Americans don't consume enough calcium to protect themselves from the bone-weakening disease osteoporosis, the National Academy of Science warned last summer when it increased the recommended intake of the mineral from 1,000 to 1,300 milligrams per day. But calcium consumption is just part of the picture for preventing and treating this debilitating disease, which affects more than 28 million Americans, 80% of them women.

San Bernardino County authorities have concluded that bone fragments found last month in the investigation of a couple charged with the murder of one of their three sons are not human. But more bone fragments were found Saturday at the rural desert home of John and Carrie Davis, and those also will need to be tested to determine whether they are human, the authorities said Monday. The Davises and another adult, Faye Potts, were arrested after a 911 call Oct.

In a discovery that sheds new light on the human conquest of the New World, a team of scientists says that bones from an ancient woman who lived on the Channel Islands off Ventura County could be the oldest human remains ever found in North America.

The remains of one of the most ferocious dinosaurs that ever roamed the Earth--a giant, ugly beast with a jaw so big and powerful it could devour a 1,400-pound fellow dinosaur in a single gulp--have been discovered near Ft. Collins, Colo. The "Monster of Masonville," as scientists have dubbed the dinosaur because it was found near the town of Masonville, was about 50 feet long and probably weighed at least four tons.

Human bones believed to date from the ancient Olmec civilization have been found in southeastern Honduras, suggesting that the influential culture extended farther than previously thought, Honduran authorities said. Carmen Fajardo at the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History said the bones appeared to be the first Olmec remains found outside the so-called Mesoamerican corridor, which stretches from Mexico to central Honduras.

SACRAMENTO When construction workers unearthed several bones behind the UC Davis Medical Center, they may have solved one of the city's longtime mysteries. The bones could be the key to locating former burial grounds used by the Sacramento County Hospital, now the UC Davis Medical Center. Officials believe the grounds were used as a cemetery for paupers and those with no relatives, dating to the 19th century.

Los Angeles County sheriff's homicide detectives were trying to determine whether bones found by hikers Saturday in the Angeles National Forest were human, authorities said. The hikers discovered the remains around 8:40 a.m. about a mile up a trail east of Woodglen and Winterhaven lanes in Altadena, Deputy Tania Plunkett said. A sheriff's cadaver-sniffing dog found more bones, she said.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department investigators found a pile of human bones and a skull Wednesday in an isolated area near Canyon Country. The discovery was made in a canyon off Sand Canyon Road with the help of a male hiker. The hiker found the bones Saturday and reported them, but deputies were unable to locate them, sheriff's spokesman Rick Adams said. The hiker guided deputies to the location Wednesday.