The Vale of Glamorgan coast holds a rich history
Imagine a stroll along the beach with your family. Now imagine that walk taking a surprising turn. That's exactly what happened to Christopher Rees, a 39-year-old man from Bridgend, during a walk with his seven-year-old son, Dylan, at Dunraven Bay in the Vale of Glamorgan last October. While enjoying the scenery, they stumbled upon something far more unexpected - part of a bone sticking out of the sand, BBC reported.
"Dylan loves learning about history and going to the museums, so he was excited to see what it was," Christopher told the media outlet.
The 7-year-old initially thought the bones were a 'dinosaur', and the family decided to carry some of it back to the car to take home. Once Dylan got home and showed off his discoveries to his mother she soon became suspicious.
"She said, 'That looks like human bones', and at first, I didn't think much of it as I thought it may have been an animal bone, but then I started to question myself," Christopher told BBC.
"My sister has a few friends who are doctors and vets. So the group chat was in full swing and it was only a few days later during Sunday dinner that I was speaking to her and she said 'yeah it looks like a human bone'."
Christopher soon called the police and explained everything to them.
"I was panicking. I thought 'What have I got myself into?'
"I explained everything to the police and where I found it."
South Wales Police searched the area for a few days and after a few days later, officers confirmed that what Christopher and Dylan had discovered was ancient remains.
"I told Dylan and he thought it was really cool," said Christopher.
Earlier, centuries-old human remains were found at the same beach after an ancient wall collapsed.
After bones analysis, it was found that they could be from shipwreck victims in the 16th, 17th and possibly 18th centuries.
Historian Graham Loveluck-Edwards revealed two possibilities, "We know that in the prehistoric period, people in the area would often inter their dead in caves. We've got an example of that in Paviland over on the Gower," he said.
"We also have archaeological evidence of a pitched battle that took place near here in the 1st Century."
Mr Edwards said the shipwreck theory was possible.
In 2019, skeletal remains of at least six individuals believed to be shipwreck victims were found there.
Furthermore, archaeologists unearthed two human leg bones on a Cwm Nash cliff in 2014.