Annigeri skulls are 638 years old

The carbon-14 tests on the human skulls found at Annigeri in Navalgund taluk of Dharwad district __ conducted to determine their period __ have indicated that they are 638 years' old. The ball is now in the court of historians and archaeologists to find out how and why nearly 500 skulls were buried there.

Prof. D P Mahapatra of The Institute of Physics in Bhubaneswar, where five samples were sent for testing, has stated: "The institute has analyzed five replicates of skull samples derived from bone collagen from a single piece (size 3cmx2cm) which were loaded with eight oxalic acid (NIST OX-II) standards. According to this, the age of the sample turns out to be equivalent to about 638 years from today (2011 AD) with an error of plus/ minus 60 years."

The institute, after carrying out Accelerator Marks Spectrometry (AMS) analysis, concluded that the skulls belonged to the latter part of 14th century or beginning of 15th century. That was the best-possible result under the given conditions, Prof. Mahapatra said, and added that the tests could not be carried out early as AMS machine was not working properly.

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