Human remains which could be around 4,000 years old have been unearthed by archaeologists working in a South Lakeland village, writes Justin Hawkins.

A team of archaeologists found the body curled up in the foetal position in a cavity in the limestone bedrock on a building site opposite the church at Levens. The remains were removed after the Home Office issued a burial licence for them.

Jamie Quartermaine, from Oxford Archeology North, in Lancaster, was the project manager in charge of the survey at the site where a local developer is building two four-bedroom houses. He told The Westmorland Gazette: "All we can say for certain at this stage is that it is at least 100 years old because there was a 100-year-old tree on top of it."

But he said, at first glance, the manner of the burial suggested that the remains probably dated back to pre-Roman times. He said it was what is known as an "articulated crouching burial", which means the body was found in situ, on its side and intact, in a style of burial typical of the Bronze Age and Iron Age periods between 2000 and 500BC and very rare since Roman times.

A large section from the pelvis to the feet, an arm and a badly crushed skull were removed from a shallow grave little more than a foot beneath the surface and, while the bones are in "good condition", the skeleton was disturbed by the growth of the tree above it and by the movement of the ground.

Mr Quartermaine stressed that it was impossible to determine the true age of the skeleton until archaeologists had the results of carbon dating tests, possibly in around a month's time. He said it might prove to date back only as far as the 19th century, but this was unlikely and his "gut instinct" was that it was a pre-historic burial.

Mr Quartermaine said, however, even after carbon dating confirmed the age of the remains, it was unlikely that much would ever be known about who the person was, how they met their death and even what sex they were because there had been no other artefacts recovered from the dig to give the find any context.

He said that although finding skeletal remains was not rare, it was unusual to find them without associated artifacts. The absence of any other finds such as "grave goods" suggested that the body was unlikely to be that of a person of status. He said the team would continue to survey the site as building work continued.

Developer David Parsons, of D.W Parson builders, was present when the team discovered the body. He said it was "totally unexpected" and confessed that he would never have recognised it as a skeleton himself, saying it just looked like the roots of the tree growing into a hole.

Historian Roger Bingham, from Burton, said: "This is an exciting development in an area which I thought was archaeologically sterile, although it is within half-a-mile of the causeway across the Lyth Valley which dates from the Bronze Age period, circa 2000 BC.

"It is one of the most exciting discoveries we have had for a long time, possibly since Bronze Age urns were found in Allithwaite.

"This is an archaeological discovery of the first importance. It also underlines the importance of asking for archeological research before there is development."