More human remains have been found at drought-stricken Lake Mead National Recreation Area, east of Las Vegas, Nevada.
It is the fourth time since May that remains have been uncovered as a drought in the western US causes the shoreline to retreat at the Colorado River reservoir behind the Hoover Dam.
National Park Service officials said rangers were called to the reservoir between Nevada and Arizona at about 11am on Saturday after bones were discovered at Swim Beach.
Rangers retrieved the remains with help from a diving team from Las Vegas Metropolitan Police.
Park Service officials said the Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office would try to determine when and how the person died as investigators reviewed records of missing people.
On May 1, a barrel containing human remains was found near Hemenway Harbour. Police believe the remains were that of a man who died from a gunshot wound and the body was likely to have dumped in the mid-1970s to early 1980s.
Less than a week later, the authorities say human bones were found at Calville Bay.
Partial human remains were found in the Boulder Beach area on July 25.
Police have suggested that more remains could be discovered as the water level at Lake Mead recedes.
Sunken World War Two craft revealed as Lake Mead dries up - in pictures
The discoveries have prompted speculation about long-unsolved missing person and murder cases dating back decades — to organised crime and the early gangster days of Las Vegas, which is about 50 kilometres west of the lake.
The water level in the lake has dropped by more than 52 metres since the reservoir was full in 1983.
Scientists say the western US, including the Colorado River basin, has become warmer and drier in the past 30 years.
