Police in Nova Scotia are investigating after part of a human skull was found at the site of a former high school in the town of New Glasgow.

Construction workers at the former Temperance Street School building found the skull in the school’s attic on Thursday.

Tim Tanner, whose construction company was in the process of converting the 120-year-old structure into apartments, said unusual finds are common in his line of work, but that he’d never encountered human remains.

“We found some small jars of snakes that were preserved, an eagle’s head that looked like taxidermy—just a couple of unusual things,” he told CTV Atlantic, “but of course, nothing as unusual as a skull.”

Tanner described the skull as being very old and missing its bottom half.

While it is unclear exactly how old the skull is or how it ended up in the school, police are treating the remains as potential evidence in a criminal investigation.

“They confirmed that the human remains found was in fact a skull,” said Const. Ken McDonald of the New Glasgow police. “As a result, our forensics unit and our major crime unit are continuing to investigate.”

The investigation is expected to continue until the end of the week.

New Glasgow is located approximately 150 kilometres northeast of Halifax.

With files from CTV Atlantic