Skeletons found at Quebec historical site

QUEBEC CITY, May 7 (UPI) -- Canadian archeologists are trying to learn more about two skeletons unearthed in Quebec's historic Plains of Abraham, where Britain fought France in 1759.

The site, near Quebec City, was under excavation in February to improve public washrooms when a backhoe turned up the remains, the Canwest News Service reported. They were left intact until the spring thaw, and details were released Tuesday.

"There is no record of a burial being done in this area -- it's a complete surprise," said bio-archeologist Vanessa Oliver-Lloyd, who works for the National Battlefields Commission.

Initial examination led Oliver-Lloyd to say she suspected the bones belonged to a male teenager and a female adult.

"I definitely don't think they were soldiers," she said.

She said the type of nails used for the caskets predated 1830-1850, and speculated they had been buried there as customs of the time didn't allow non-Catholics to buried in Catholic cemeteries.