A total of 121 skulls whose tops had been sawn off were discovered last week in a forest in Northwest China's Gansu Province. DNA tests are underway to work out if the skulls belong to human being. The skulls were first thought to be monkeys, but a local professor held a suspicion that they belong to human being as he had found plastic teeth in a jaw of one of the skulls. [Lanzhou Morning Post]

Liu Naifa, life science professor at Lanzhou University in Lanzhou, Gansu's provincial capital, said they were human as plastic teeth were found in a jaw of one of the skulls.

The tops of the skulls were sawn off before they were discovered. Liu said the skulls were sawn not long ago. The professor also said they were from young and old people, as well as men and women.

The police are still investigating into the cruel case and no civil identification is reliable until the provincial police department releases an official report, a police officer said after he had attended a conference held by the department on the case on Saturday.

A herdsman found the 121 skulls in a forest in Tanshanling Town of the Tibet Autonomous County in Tianzhu last Monday. The forest is on the border between Gansu and Qinghai. The skulls were first thought to be monkeys.