Workers were shocked to find human remains buried under a patio on a family's property in the UK.
Builder Robbie Kearney found the grim discovery while he was digging a soakaway hole for the drainage under the patio.
The five skeletons are said to be of three adults, one juvenile and a younger child, while one of them is believed to be female.
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Experts are hoping to establish the age of the bones, but police say it could take several weeks.
Robbie, 32, said his team instantly stopped what they were doing while they were working on the back garden of the house in Heytesbury, Wiltshire.
He said: "I found a few bones, which I assumed were animal bones and went down a bit further and found some more bones.
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"Then I went a bit deeper and found a skull. That's when I realised they were human remains.
"It came as a bit of a shock as I've never found a skull before."
Robbie is a self-employed builder for Mouldings in South Newton. His colleague Paul Tapper, 48, told the property owner immediately.
Matthew and Amelia Jackson, the owners of the Georgian property, called police, with CSI vehicles sent to their home.
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Mr Jackson said: "It has certainly created some interest in the village.
"We have had workmen here since the beginning of last week building drainage and a soakaway in our lawn for a patio.
"The builders were digging up the lawn and made the discovery on Wednesday. We phoned the police who came out straight away.
"They were here on Thursday, along with forensic officers and one of the Wiltshire archaeologists came out.
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"The remains have been sent away for carbon dating and it may be a while before we get the results.
"It's all quite interesting. They mentioned the early medieval period, possibly the 5th century."
The remains were found around 100 yards away from the 12th century church of St Peter and St Paul.
Local historian Joe Charlesworth said: "They are likely to be from a plague pit. Rumour has it that there are more in the village."
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Sam Fox, of Wiltshire Council, described it as an 'exciting and unexpected find'.
He added: "Our archaeology team visited along with Wiltshire Police, and agreed that this is likely to be the disturbed remains of a number of graves from the early medieval period.
"From what our team have identified so far, these look like Christian graves representing people of different ages and of both genders, so they may represent the place where there had been an earlier church in Saxon or later times.
"Our archaeology team will be keeping an eye on further drainage work going on in the garden and will put together a report once the radiocarbon date has been confirmed by the police forensic team.
"This is an exciting and unexpected discovery in an area that our archaeology team don't often get an opportunity to investigate, and we look forward to further developments on this discovery."
Wiltshire Police said: "Enquiries are being carried following the discovery of bones in the garden of an address in Heytesbury.
"A forensic archaeologist has been at the site, working to establish how old these remains are.
"The scientific dating of the bones found at an address in Heytesbury has not yet been completed.
"At this stage there is no evidence to suggest we are dealing with a crime scene."
Mr Jackson said the remains would be treated with respect and will be reburied once the carbon dating is complete.
Featured Image Credit: SWNS