Potential human remains, including a jaw with teeth still attached, were recovered from the largest reservoir in the United States, Lake Mead, as its water levels have fallen to a record low.
The U.S. National Park Service reported the find at Boulder Beach in Nevada on August 16, 2026, and said rangers and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department had responded. Authorities stated that the incident is under investigation and that no additional information is available at this time.
The plate of bones was discovered by a woman and her friend while visiting the Nevada side of the reservoir. Dibales Molina Cruz told CBS affiliate KLAS, "My friend was playing with the rocks in the lake, and then he grabbed the jaw. When he looked, he saw the teeth and everything." Her friend Noel De Leon suggested that the dramatically low water levels were responsible for bringing the remains to the surface, remarking that the water looks "very low compared to where it should be…as the water goes down, the skeletons come up."
Lake Mead’s water level has continued its downward trend since 2000. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation reported that the lake was at 1,040 feet (316 meters) above sea level last week—well below the previous record low set in July 2022. The reservoir sits in Clark County, most of which is experiencing moderate drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
The growing severity of droughts is attributed by scientists to climate change, and persistent hot summer weather across the globe has spurred a chain of unexpected discoveries in rivers and lakes. In Hungary, bodies of two World War II German soldiers were recovered from the Danube River in Budapest, accompanied by a largely intact Wehrmacht motorcycle. Similar finds of World War II wreckage have recently surfaced in Serbia’s Danube and in a UK reservoir in Rutland, where the remains of the former village of Nether Hambleton were uncovered after the water receded from its flood‑created lake.
