MAKKAH, 5 October 2007 — Locals in Thakif are abuzz about the recent discovery of human bones found in nearby caves, and would like to know what should be done about it, the daily Al-Madinah reported last week.

The bones, thought to be old and possibly part of a long-forgotten burial site, even have some locals proposing their own theories.

“Specialists should analyze these bodies to know which epoch they belong to, especially since they are big,” said Awad ibn Ahmad, a local tribal chieftain. “The skulls, ribs and the skeletons size are bigger than ours nowadays. They seem to be related to the era of Giants.”

The chieftain is referring to a belief based on a Hadith by Bukhari (4:543) about Adam’s giant stature, however investigators that went to the scene didn’t report the skeletons to be unusually tall or giant-like. Nevertheless the chieftain says that the skeletons “look so scary and became a threat for a lot of visitors and residents as well.”

The locals would also like to know if the remains are those of Muslims or not, to decide whether to re-intern the remains in accordance to Islamic principles. The community would also like to see the site walled off to keep people out.

Ataya Al-Thakify, an 80-year-old former sheriff from Al-Darin village, said these cave-tombs are prevalent in this region.

“The numbers of individual skeletal remains in each cave ranges from six to 30,” he said. “There are probably more than a thousand in all. We used to hear about these caves full of bodies and skeletons from our parents and grandparents. Some people would link them to old unsolved mysteries.”

Ali Al-Thakify, a local imam, tabled his own theory about the origins of these skeletons. “The pharaohs,” he said.

Hashem Al-Thakify confirmed what his father said, about caves in the region being filled with old corpses.

“We want to know who these people were and why they were interned in this strange way in these caves and why they were not buried normally,” he said. “These caves are spread in the hills of Mouker, UmSeada, and Ibn Hema. These caves periodically get exposed by natural processes.”

Authorities have been dispatched to guard the skeletal remains until scholars can figure out what to do about these macabre sites.