A construction worker found ancient human and horse bones while digging behind Annapolis Elementary School, police said.
Julio Gonzales said he was operating a backhoe behind the school Monday when he dug up what appeared to be a human leg bone.
“It wasn?t scary. It was OK. After digging the trench, I found the bones and called police,” said Gonzales, who works for Jessup-based Star Concrete, a subcontractor hired to rebuild a retaining wall near a portable classroom behind the school.
Police immediately stopped construction in order to complete an investigation, said Annapolis Police Department spokesman Officer Hal Dalton.
The department sent the large bone and the few smaller bones that were found to the Maryland Medical Examiner?s Office, which determined that they were of ancient origin.
The office will turn the bones over to the Maryland Historical Society for possible further study.
Dr. Theodore King, the medical examiner in charge of the case, was not available for comment Tuesday.
The bones are from “way before our lifetime. Nobody could possibly be alive that had anything to do with them,” Dalton said, although he said he does not know the exact age.
They may have been part of an ancient burial ground, Dalton said.
Police have looked into similar situations before, such as when construction workers found human remains under Church Circle in Annapolis a few years ago, he said.
The remains are no longer a police matter, and the site where the remains were found was returned to the Anne Arundel County Board of Education, Dalton said.
Construction started up again Tuesday, and the wall should be completed by early November, said Anne Arundel County Schools spokesman Tony Ruffin.
Annapolis Elementary School dates back to 1896, and the wall is at least 50 years old, Ruffin said. It is located on Green Street, which is near State Circle in downtown Annapolis.
