Researchers have found a piece of pelvic bone that is believed to belong to either King Alfred the Great or his son Edward; the remains were found in a forgotten box sitting in a dusty basement.
Scientists had originaly excavated St. Bartholomew's Church (home of Hyde Abbey), where the king was believed to have been buried. All of the skeletons found at the site were from the 1300s, King Alfred died in the year 899, the Telegraph reported.
The team decided to revisit a set of bones found at the same site in the late 1990s. A promising pelvic bone that had been discovered at the historic high alter was found in a box of animal remains at Winchester's City Museum.
The researchers were able to gauge that the bone belonged to a man between the ages of 26 and 45 who died sometime between 895 and 1017 AD.
No DNA tests have been conducted at this time the researchers strongly believe the bones belong to the long-lost king because it is older than the Abbey itself.
The king was first buried at Winchester's old minster; he was later moved to be near his wife. The whole family (including children) were moved back to the site of Hyde Abbey after it was built in the yearr 1110.
"Given the age at death of the individual, and the probable male identity, the plausible candidates are Kind Alfred, King Edward the Elder, or the brother of King Edward, Aethelweard. All were buried in the Abbey," Doctor Katie Tucker, who led the excavation, told the Telegraph. "However, historical evidence indicates that only the coffins of Alfred and Edward were at the site of the High Altar. The discovery of the bone in a put due into the graves in front of the High Altar makes it far more likely that it comes from either Alfred or Edward."
King Alfred was famous for fighting off vikings that were invading his Essex kingdom and working towards a unified English state, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
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