Nassau County anthropological tests have revealed some clues about the identity of the skeletal remains found at an excavation site in Farmingdale last month, but many questions are still unanswered.

The Nassau County Medical Examiners Office, which has been collaborating with the Nassau County Police Department on the matter, has removed two skeletons from the ground since the first skull was discovered on property on a hill off Merritts Road on Dec. 20, and officials have determined that both sets of bones are from women. "Our anthropologist has done a skeletal analysis report for us, and the summary is that the one set of bones is female adult, probably around 33 years of age. The ethnic affinity is probably European, and the stature is about 5 foot, 3 inches tall," Diane Markunas, administrator of the office, said in a telephone interview Tuesday. "The other set of bones is also female, but a young adult, unknown ethnic affinity, and again the stature is approximately 5 foot 3 as well. That's the extent of what we have at this point." She added that some remains of coffin wood and nails accompanied the skeletons.

As for the age of the bones, she commented, "They just felt that an age of over 100 years would not seem unreasonable. So, we're talking about an old set."

Still, the office has not determined whether the remains belong to relatives of Thomas Powell, who founded Farmingdale in 1695 and whose family dominated the then-rural area during the early 1700s. Some Farmingdale residents are still looking for answers to this question, which was sparked when the bones were first discovered.

The excavation site had been dug up by the owner of the property, Hardscrabble Realty, Farmingdale, in order to build a road leading to planned, new, upscale, Victorian homes. While taking a walk with his son and dog, Nathaniel Hubbard, son of Jean Hubbard, a descendant of Powell, noticed a skull on the surface of one of the walls of dirt and sand created by the excavation. Since the incident, Mrs. Hubbard, who lives just a few houses away from the site on Merritts Road, and others, have wondered whether the remains belonged to the Powells, because the area had long been inhabited by the founding family. In addition, Jean had heard her late father, respected Farmingdale and Town of Oyster Bay historian Jesse Merritt, speak of two crude gravestones associated with two graves "on the hill." According to Jean, one of the headstones has the letters "EP" on it, and Thomas Powell's second wife was named Elizabeth. Hubbard, who is also active in local history interests, noted Tuesday that she will continue to research the matter.

According to Markunas, the Medical Examiners Office does not plan to investigate the issue further. She added that the bones will remain at the office until a determination is made about whether the family will arrange for burial. "I don't know if...the family was going to decide to do burial of the bones," she said. Asked whether the office has determined which family the bones belong to, she added, "I don't know if there is some way of doing some kind of DNA analysis - we can't do that here - but if the Powell descendants are interested and want to take that upon themselves, there may be some places that would be able to do that."

Further information on research into the identity of the bones and plans for the handling of these and accompanying artifacts is expected in upcoming weeks. Meanwhile, Hardscrabble Realty will move forward with plans to pave a road over the former burial site, according to Errol Ross, project manager.