Yet another set of human remains was pulled from the shallows of Lake Mead this week, marking the sixth time this year the receding water levels uncovered bodies from the past.
The National Park Service confirmed on Wednesday that a human bone discovered by a diver directed a park dive team to an area where the skeletal remains were found.
It’s unclear whether the bone and the remains are from the same person, and the Clark county coroner’s office is still investigating previously found partial sets of remains to determine how many people total have been recovered from the depths this year. Unlike previous discoveries – including the first body, which was found in barrel in May and is suspected to be linked to a mob murder in the 70s – officials don’t currently suspect foul play.
One set of remains, discovered in the Callville Bay area, were subsequently identified by medical examiners as those of Thomas Erndt, a 42-year-old father who drowned in 2002. Several other relics from the past have also emerged this year, including a sunken second world war-era vessel designed to carry troops into beachfront battles during deployment at Normandy. A B-29 plane, still shadowed by the depths, is becoming visible for the first time in decades. More artifacts and bones are expected to surface as water levels continue to wane.
“You will find things in the lake. It’s inevitable,” Michael Green, an associate professor of history at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, told the Guardian this summer, noting that the area flooded by the man-made lake had an abundance of archeological sites.
But even with the finds, the drought has wrought more destruction than opportunity for discovery. The findings are symptoms of extreme drought conditions plaguing the American west that are only expected to intensify in the coming years.
“It’s been sad to watch the lake drop,” Green said, adding: “The islands appear, the bathtub ring, the marina being moved out further and further.”
The imperiled lake was created by the Hoover Dam at the border between Arizona and Nevada. As part of the sprawling, drought-stricken Colorado River basin, it has dropped by hundreds of feet in recent years, approaching catastrophically low levels that would inhibit the river’s flow. After reaching record lows this summer, levels have rebounded slightly and Lake Mead is now 28% full. A key water source for roughly 25 million people, Lake Mead also can produce enough energy for about 1.3 million people and both resources are under threat by drought conditions and overuse.
Recreation at the lake has also been impacted by drought conditions and several areas and boat launches have had to close due to low water levels, according to the National Park Service. “Declining water levels due to climate change and 20 years of ongoing drought have reshaped the park’s shorelines,” the agency said on an information page.
