Found bones in an old church porch, should I report it?

[IsitaHatOrACat]

On a walk at the weekend I explored an old (unused) church and graveyard. These bones were sitting in the church porch. Any advice? It seems a bit off to just ignore them. Has this ever happened to anyone else and did you do anything about it?

Yes call the police

Assuming they are human, they certainly shouldn’t be there - at least it’s disrespectful to the long-dead person who died, at most there’s been a serious crime & the Police need to be take over. Must have been quite a shock for you.

Google says,

This item resembles a long bone, specifically a human femur, that may have been subjected to significant environmental exposure or postmortem manipulation.It shares characteristics with highly fossilized ancient hominin bones.Other similar archaeological finds show evidence of being whittled into tools or points.Please double-check if you believe this is a modern remain or an archaeological artifact, and do not move or disturb the items if they are in situ, as they could have significant historical value. Contact local archaeological authorities or law enforcement immediately if the context suggests a recent burial.

I'm not certain that police time is best used here but I could be wrong. The graveyard itself is a maze of rabbit warrens and the bones look old to me (though I'm no expert on this!) I don't even know if they're animal or human

This will sound very random but DD has encountered similar with her work recently. Very, very old graves have been disturbed by badgers, then the bones found by (understandably) shocked humans. There may be a very innocent explanation.

Just contact 101.

You don’t have to be sure if it’s the best use of their time.

That’s not for you to decide 🤷‍♀️

I'm a bit weirded out but more intrigued than shocked. I agree that if they are human its not respectful for the bones to sit in a porch

You need to let the police know. They will have some kind of procedure to check where they have come from. Even if they are animal bones.

And this is why Google AI is hopeless. God knows why you copied and pasted this generic useless drivel.
OP I’m an archaeologist by training, you need to call the police on 101 and don’t touch the bones.

This is what im assuming too due to the rabbits (there were dozens of them running around the graveyard and holes everywhere).

This happened a local village church after they had some drainage work done (very old grave yard with unmarked graves, plague pit etc). The police/forensics very quickly identified them as ancient burials and didn’t need to open an investigation. The bones were released in a box to be reburied respectfully in the grave yard. Maybe report it to the vicar/church warden?

I had to investigate a skull that was dug up
by a doctor in his garden in south London. It necessitated an expert making a decision on how old it was. You need to report it and let them make the decision.

It's an unused church unfortunately so I've no idea who I would contact church-wise

I think you have to report, don’t you? A friend was having renovations to her house done and the builders found bones as they dug down into the foundations. It was as if CSI had turned up! Guys in white hazmat suits and everything. Turned out to be animal bones in the end but they took it very seriously.

I think they look human what a creepy thing to come across, sorry op 😳

I’d definitely give the police a call maybe an animal has dug them up and dumped them there, and I think if you just leave them you’ll always wonder.

This happened to a friend of mine who reported it to the local authority (who were responsible for the land) they arranged for someone (I want to say a pathologist) to collect the bones which were found to be from a dog.

Those bones look very old to me, I wouldn't call it a police issue. I agree with a pp they've been dug up by an animal. Its a job for the church warden or gardener to do a best guess of which grave and dig them back in (imo, sorry if irreverent, but I'd hope the soul is having a great time in the afterlife and unbothered)

Sorry just saw this response - it'll be looked after by the local council or similar, there'll be a sign near the entrance I'd imagine

You’ve been told several times to report it to the police. Do that and let them follow their usual process.

Yes bones come to the surface regularly in untended grave yards. Someone probably found them next to a burrow and put them there for reburial.

There are several organisations that could adopt the case if the bones are dated and can be reburied on the site, but you have to go through the checks to verify this via the police first (there are legal elements to situations along these lines, I believe).

It is most likely that the disturbances in the ground by animals has exposed them over time and someone's moved them from just being on the surface of the disused plot.

LOL at all the experts here, able to identify bone age from a photo.

You need to report so they can be disposed of respectfully,

Don't remove bones or handle them.

I one saw a massive pile of carpal phalanges placed on a grave in a Scottish kirk where it is not unusual to bump into a femur or other bones and this is due to the number of buriels that took place there in the past.

The land is constantly churning them over any way.

In some areas, like Scotland it is illegal to remove bones from a church yard, and the same may also apply here in England.

I've been filling out an online form for the police so I'll see what happens.