Teneriffe bones mystery: Jaw, arm and leg fragments sent for testing as police conclude search

Detectives are confident they've recovered all human bone fragments from an inner-Brisbane park and are working with anthropologists to solve a decades-old mystery.

Council workers stumbled upon a jaw bone at Teneriffe Park – the site of an old rubbish tip – on Tuesday, sparking a police investigation.

A delicate excavation has since uncovered fragments of eight or nine bones, including arm and leg fragments, which have been sent away for carbon dating and DNA tests.

Detective Senior Sergeant Tom Armitt said there could be no active criminal investigation until police could narrow down the age of the "scant, fragmented" remains. Police will still prepare a report to the Coroner, he said.

"We don't have a full skeleton," he said today.

"Just due to the nature of the park and the soil that we've been digging in, we're not even sure that the human remains were originally here when the person died and may have been transported here many, many years ago either in landfill from another site."

Police have asked Brisbane City Council about the origins of previous landfill, and have also sought expert advice about whether the bones may be Indigenous.

"We'll also be making inquiries as to whether there were any registered private burials during colonial times, especially given there's some historic housing around here," Sr Sgt Armitt said.

Forensic anthropologists have taken a measurement from the jaw bone to try to determine gender.

Sr Sgt Armitt said the excavation site had been expanded yesterday, but the search has since been concluded.

"We wanted to make sure we had recovered all the remains and we're confident that whatever's there has been uncovered by us and will be repatriated to the morgue," he said.

The bones have been sent to Brisbane's John Tonge Centre and any DNA samples will be checked against a national database of missing persons.

 With AAP.