An Iron Age skeleton was temporarily exposed by a storm before quickly being buried beneath tons of dirt, but not before researchers had the chance to document the exciting find. The remains are believed to be 2,000 years old. The bones were uncovered over the holidays, according to a Jan. 16, 2013 report by LiveScience via Yahoo! News.
The Iron Age skeleton was discovered after a series of storms ravaged Scotland's Shetland Islands. Police were called to investigate the remains, which were found protruding from a cliff at Channerwick. Fortunately, it was quickly determined that the bones did not belong to a homicide victim, and a small piece of bone recovered from the site should be able to confirm the age of the skeleton. Unfortunately, the bones were re-buried in the cliffside when another portion of the cliff crumbled on top of the remains. Researchers had the opportunity to photograph and measure the remains where they lay embedded in the soil before they disappeared from view again.
Iron Age structures at the site were also interred when the cliff crumbled. In addition, there may have been additional burial sites identified, but those, too, are hidden from view under tons of dirt.
The Iron Age skeleton isn't the first discovery of artifacts from that period. Just last year, a cache of Iron Age coins was located in Jersey, United Kingdom. Check out the video at the top of the page for more information.
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