THE bones from what could be three prehistoric bodies have been dug up in West Dorset.

The bones from the three adults were found during work to put in a new septic tank at the National Trust cottage Golly Knapp in Long Bredy.

They were spotted in the digger bucket by archaeologist Peter Bellamy who was tasked to keep a watch on the work - just in case - on behalf of the trust.

Mr Bellamy said human remains were the last thing he expected to see.

They had found pottery and broken glass from the last 100 to 150 years nearer the house but had little expectation of finding anything too interesting when the hole for the tank was dug.

“We were not expecting bones at all and our first thought was that they were animal but suddenly they looked remarkably human,” said Mr Bellamy.

He said it was a truly exciting - but mystifying - find.

Mr Bellamy added: “At the moment we think there are at least three people there as we have five leg bones.”

Another expert will look and see if a fuller picture of how many people are buried there and then the bones will be carbon dated.

From the position they were found Mr Bellamy thinks they are likely to be pre-historic and buried crouching - which makes them very early burials.

While at the moment a lot is idle speculation he said, Mr Bellamy has discounted as unlikely the bones were Christian or belonged to murderers or suicides.

He said: “If the bones were out straight they were likely to be placed north south which makes them less likely to be Christian, especially as there is a church just up the road.

“It is not the sort of place where murderers and suicides would be as they tend to be placed on parish boundaries.”

Trust archaeologist Martin Papworth added: “Because it was so deep - more than a metre - it was quite hard to do anything further than just take out the bones disturbed by the machines.

“Because it is lime-rich soil I guess that is why the bones survived so they could be any age, If it was an acid soil they would have gone completely.

“All archaeology is like this - bits in a chain - it tells us something new about that Long Bredy area - it will be in a record so that some time in the future if something else turns up we can put two and two together and it helps to build up a picture.

“From the bones we should be able to say how old, if there were any deformity or there might be some evidence of foul play.”

The carbon dating will take several months and then a report will be published in the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society annual journal for all archaeology in Dorset.