Skull Found on Beach May Be From Centuries-Old Shipwrecked Sailor

A human skull has been discovered on a sleepy rural beach in the U.K., and is thought to be from a centuries-old shipwreck victim.

The skull was found in a sand dune by Emily Stevenson, co-founder of beach cleaning organization Beach Guardian, at Sennen Cove in the southwestern coastal countryside of Cornwall.

"It is clear that they have been there for some time and it is possible that they may be another shipwreck victim, lost many centuries ago and buried by the local population," Ann Reynolds, senior officer for the Rural Historic Environment at Cornwall Council said in a statement.

The Devon and Cornwall Police, along with Cornwall Council's strategic historic environment team, have investigated the remains and determined that they are archaeological, rather than from a recent death.

"After spending over half my life beach cleaning in Cornwall, I thought I'd seen my fair share of interesting beach finds [...] but this find really is in a league of its own," Stevenson, who found the skull, said in a statement. "There have been times before, when I'm exploring hidden coves or deep, dark caves filled with plastic, that I have worried about finding human remains, but it really wasn't expected on a popular beach like this."

In November 2022, another set of human remains were discovered in Cornwall at Newtrain Bay—about 60 miles northeast of this most recent finding—which were thought to be from a shipwrecked sailor from the 18th or 19th century.

The new remains may also be from a sailor who met a similarly unfortunate end.

"Historic burials tend to appear every couple of years or so, but to have two sets of remains appear over two months is more unusual," Reynolds said. "It serves as a reflection of the continually changing coastline and the potential for more archaeological remains to be revealed, particularly at this time of year."

"The remains are better preserved than those found in November, as they are encased in sand, and following excavation we hope to be able to carry out some analysis of the age of the bones and find out a little bit about the person such as their place of origin."

The remains found in November 2022 were determined to possibly be from a shipwreck victim due to heavy wear patterns that suggested well-developed upper body muscles combined with its location, near to a dangerous section of sea on the approach to a harbor, Reynolds told the BBC in November.

Bodies buried in sand, like the dunes on Sennen Beach, tend to be better preserved than those in soil, as they dry out and are less prone to decomposition. In fertile soil, bones can disappear completely in only a few decades; in sand, bones can stick around for hundreds or even thousands of years.

Newsweek has contacted Cornwall Council.

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