Mystery of woman and coffin found buried on Aberdeen beach

Bones found close to the site of the burial at the beach at Bridge of Don.

The woman’s skeletal remains and eroding casket were spotted by a family out walking on the shore at Bridge of Don near Aberdeen.

Archaeologists were called by police to investigate with a report soon due to establish the age of the woman when she died, where she may have come from and the possible circumstances surrounding her burial in the sand.

Bruce Mann, archaeologist at Aberdeenshire Council, said the coffin had been deliberately buried on the beach with the remains becoming exposed in the face of a dune.

Initial assessments put the burial to sometime between the 17th and early 19th Century with one early suggestion that the burial may have followed a shipwreck.

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Mr Mann said: “ The initial thought was that the burial was of a shipwreck victim who was buried close to where they came ashore.

"It was then a big surprise when it was established that it was a woman.

"There is definitely a story there but we may never know why she was buried there."

Mr Mann said there were no settlements close to the burial spot.

He added: "The post-medieval date was surprising as we know from records that there was no indication of a settlement whatsoever at that time. It’s an isolated burial.

"We are keeping an active eye on the area but there have been no other burials found.”

An investigation was launched into the skeleton, which was found in early 2019, by AOC Archaeology on behalf of Historic Environment Scotland.

Details of the find have only now just been made public with details released in Aberdeenshire Council’s archaeology strategy.

The report sets out major discoveries made in recent years in Aberdeenshire, including an Iron Age hillfort at Huntly, an Iron Age settlement at Cruden Bay, an Iron Age cemetery at Inverurie and a number of Palaeolithic flints along Deeside.

The woman buried on the beach will be laid to rest once again in a cemetery in Aberdeen once the investigation into her coastal grave is concluded.

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Mystery of woman and coffin found buried on Aberdeen beach

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