AN accidental archaeologist has said he now wishes he discovered a skull after eerily unearthing a cluster of bones in his back garden.

Keith Gibbons, 35, moved into his current property roughly two years ago and has been carrying out a complete renovation ever since.

Having finished the Victorian terrace house’s internal works, he has recently turned his focus to outside with a view of landscaping the garden.

While digging up his green space Mr Gibbons came across a brick-lined square hole from which he pulled out roughly seven bones.

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“I immediately got my trail out and started digging down gently, hoping to find some more without disturbing them, as I did not want to break them,” he added.

“I was meant to be cracking on with the rest of the garden but I spent all night digging for bones instead, so I upset the missus a little bit.

“I don’t think any of them are human bones unless you want to take them away to get them properly tested for me – although I was hoping to find a non-human skull.

“If there was a really big bone or I had found a leg or an arm bone then I might have started getting worried and thought about calling the police.”

Mr Gibbons, of Oxford Crescent, Clacton, personally believes the bones likely belonged to a lamb which had been served up to be eaten before the cartilage was disregarded.

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But what about the mysterious tomb in which they have festered for potentially years and years?

He said: “There is no bone in my body that matches the size of the ones I found, so it has to have just come from food waste I would have thought.

“The hole we believe is an old outside chiller which they used to use before fridges to keep their milk and butter cold.

“So, I reckon I might use it as a beer chiller now as it is right next to the patio so it would be nice to have near when we are having a BBQ.”