AURORA – A group of biologists studying moss samples last week in rural Hancock County unexpectedly stumbled upon human remains, prompting police to launch an investigation into how the remains got there and to whom they belong.

Maine State Police spokesman Stephen McCausland confirmed Monday that a skull and jawbone were discovered near a scenic lookout area off Route 9 in Aurora.

“It appears as though the skull was found down over a steep embankment covered by some brush,” McCausland said in a telephone interview. “Detectives were called to search the area and also found a jawbone.”

The remains belong to an adult male and are at least two years old, possibly older, McCausland said. He had no additional details about the case and said that it was much too early to consider the findings suspicious.

Detectives have turned over the skull and jawbone to the state medical examiner’s office in Augusta, which will try to make an identification.

About 10 biologists from the Humboldt Field Research Institute in Steuben were in Aurora last Thursday studying a type of wetland moss when they made the macabre discovery.

“It’s my understanding that they found the skull, left it where it was and called police,” Joerg-Henner Lotze, director of the Humboldt institute, said Monday. “We’ve all seen enough TV programs to know that you don’t fool around with things like that.”

Lotze, who was not among the biologists in Aurora last week, called the Humboldt institute a natural history training facility that works with field biologists from many agencies in the U.S. and Canada. He said the scientists in Aurora last week had no intention of uncovering human remains and were justifiably surprised.

The skull and jawbone were found off Route 9 in northern Hancock County near an area known as The Whalesback, which is a scenic esker, or steep ridge formed by glacial runoff.

Detectives scoured the area Friday looking for additional remains, McCausland said, but have since suspended their search pending additional information from the medical examiner’s office.

“There has been no decision on where or when we would return to continue searching,” the state police spokesman said. “We need to wait for input from the medical examiner’s office. It all depends on whether we have dental records or other means of identification to compare with.”

A spokesperson at the medical examiner’s office said late Monday that it was unlikely any information would be available until later this week.

Marcella Sorg, an anthropology professor at the University of Maine who works with the state on studying skeletal remains, said Monday that she has been contacted to assist but declined to comment further.

In the meantime, police also are combing through active missing persons cases, of which there are several, but McCausland stressed that there is no timeline.

The skull found in Aurora was the second discovered in eastern Maine last week, according to police.

McCausland said another human skull was found in Milbridge last Wednesday by a surveying crew that was doing work on a private way off Rays Point Road.

“That one appears to have been buried and there was some wood nearby to indicate that there was also a coffin,” he said. “It’s looks like it was a case of a burial site that was disturbed.”

The skull in Milbridge appeared to be much older and was of less concern than the case in Aurora, according to McCausland.

State police are working with Milbridge town officials to see whether the remains could have come from a cemetery nearby, he said.