ARCHEOLOGISTS in Winchester may have discovered the burial site of King Alfred, but one last mystery remains - who does the pelvic bone belong to

Discovered in September, it has still yet to be analysed at a laboratory in Oxford to see if it dates from the Saxon period.

Speaking at a special conference on the 1,100th anniversary of the Great King's death yesterday, Winchester Museum chief Ken Qualmann explained that preliminary research on the portion of hip bone shows that it could be an old female adult, who suffered, from arthritis at the time of her death.

As the conference got under way, a separate small band of people launched their own society to bring back the region's glory years.

It aims to promote Wessex regionalism and its distinct cultural identity eventually giving Hampshire, Wilt-shire, Berkshire, Dorset, Somerset and Devon much greater self-government.

If the bone found proved to be Saxon and female, it might belong to Alfred's Queen, Eahlswith, who was buried next to him.

The summer excavation has proved that the location at Hyde Abbey was the last place the King, his Queen and their son were interred.

Finds from the dig at the car park in River Park Leisure Centre have supported previous evidence that Alfred's grave was dug up in 1788 when a jail was built on the site.

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