Police will continue forensic testing of a suspected human bone discovered at a property in Mossy Point last month.
The bone was found protruding from a garden bed on a property occupied by a group of ANU medical students on May 17.
At the time, officers from the South Coast Police District established a crime scene and the bone was transported to Sydney for testing.
Batemans Bay Police Chief Inspector Greg Flood said the bone was assessed by a local vet, who formed the opinion that it was of human origin.
Chief Inspector Flood said an Aboriginal heritage officer and an archaeologist from the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment were also appointed to examine the bone, which they also believed to be human.
However, due to the random location of the bone, it was decided that forensic testing was required to confirm its heritage.
"Once attending the scene, they couldn't make a determination as to whether that area may have been an Aboriginal burial ground in the past," Chief Inspector Flood said.
Initial examination of the soil indicated the bone might have travelled from an unspecified location.
"The soil may have been moved there from another area when the house was built some years ago, which is quite common," Chief Inspector Flood said.
"Police do get a lot of reports of bones being located throughout the area.
"Most of the time they turn out to be animal origin … but there have been times in the past where the bones and the sites have found to be of Aboriginal heritage."
The bone was sent to the Department of Forensic Medicine in Sydney, where DNA and radiocarbon testing were to be undertaken and might determine its ancestry.
"It's still undergoing examination and we don't have the results at this stage," Chief Inspector Flood said.
"We can't continue with the investigation until we determine the heritage of the bone itself."
