A POLICE force has confirmed a skull found washed up on a beach by a teenage girl belonged to a human.

On Sunday afternoon, a 13-year-old girl was walking along Earlham's Beach, Little Oakley, with her father when she made the gruesome discovery.

Shocked by their find, the pair then called the police and officers and a forensics team arrived at the scene.

The experts are believed to have bagged up the skull before taking it away to a laboratory for testing. 

Questions were raised about the skull’s authenticity on social media.

Some commentators have speculated it could belong to a historic primate or a human who was buried at sea hundreds of years ago.

Other social media users, however, suggested it may just be a life-like prop, dropped on the sand as part of a cruel prank to scare passers-by.

A spokeswoman for Essex Police, however, has now confirmed the skull did belong to a human.

She said: "A human skull was found by a member of the public while walking along Irlam’s Beach, Little Oakley, around 3.30pm on Sunday.

"At present, it is not known how old the skull is but we believe it may have been brought in by the tide.

"Enquiries are ongoing, but this is not being treated as suspicious."

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Shortly after the find, Mike Bush, ward councillor for the Oakleys and Wix, said it would be wrong to jump to conclusions about the skull’s origins until there had been further analysis.

He said: “I will reserve judgement until it has been confirmed by forensics but it could well turn out to be an interesting and exciting find.

“We know around those areas there are often ancient finds because historically there were settlements and encampments along the coastal belt.

“So, there is a good possibility it could be real, but let’s wait and see.”