By Tim Binnall
The possibility that some skull fragments discovered at a museum in the Pacific island nation of Kiribati were those of famed aviator Amelia Earhart has been disproven following DNA tests. The intriguing bones sparked headlines back in 2019 when it was revealed that they had been found during a much-heralded National Geographic expedition aimed at solving the mystery of the lost pilot. While an underwater search by famed oceanographer Robert Ballard was the centerpiece of the project, the most promising clue to the case wound up coming by way of archaeologist Dr. Fredrik Hiebert and forensic anthropologist Dr. Erin Kimmerle, who spotted the skull fragments sitting on a shelf at the National Museum of Kiribati.
The bones were subsequently handed over to the researchers for testing with the idea being that they may be the famed aviator's partial remains. Were that to be the case, it would have lent considerable credence to the longstanding theory that Earhart crashed on the uninhabited island of Nikumaroro, which is a part of Kiribati. However, over three years later, answers surrounding the skull fragments have finally arrived as Hiebert reportedly returned the specimens to the museum this past week and explained to a local media outlet that DNA tests on the materials found that they actually came from "a young Polynesian woman" who resided in the island nation a staggering 1000 years ago. As such, sadly, the mystery surrounding the famed aviator's disappearance remains unsolved.