PICTURES: Mystery of human skeletons found buried at Halton Castle

They were the most intriguing discovery made by volunteers during the first community dig at the ancient monument for 30 years.

The two skeletons, believed to be a man and a woman, are thought to have been buried 400 years ago.

Archaeologists say it is very rare to find human remains purposely buried inside castle grounds in the UK.

No documentary evidence is currently known to explain their presence.

They hope further analysis will shed light on the mystery.

Animal bone, pottery, clay pipe, musket balls, glass and coins were also unearthed as Norton Priory Museum and the University of Salford led the historic dig.

More than 300 schoolchildren found lead shot and animal bone.

Around 100 volunteers have been thanked for carrying out “an exorbitant amount of work”.

They excavated several trenches, stripped away turf and cleaned all the items that were found.

They then faced the laborious process of backfilling and re-turfing the trenches.

Tom Fildes from Norton Priory said: “The dig was an emphatic success and we can’t have hoped for better.

“The volunteers were absolutely fantastic and without them and the University of Salford we wouldn’t know what we do today, that something rather peculiar was going on at the castle some 400 years ago.

“The plan now is to use high-spec analyses to further investigate the site in post-excavation including the human remains and other artefacts to better understand Halton Castle’s tantalising history.”

Various pieces of green-glazed pot were unearthed.

The site also showed evidence from the medieval period in the shape of a wall running inward from the outer castle boundary.

All the information will now be pieced together and reviewed to paint a clearer picture of what has been found.

The dig was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Halton Council’s area forum.

Halton Castle is open Saturdays and Sundays from 12pm to 4pm until the end of October 2015.