"Druid" leader loses bid to spare Stonehenge remains from testing

Aug 23, 2011, 16:40 GMT

London - A man claiming to be a descendant of the Celtic priestly order of the druids lost a legal battle Tuesday to spare from more scientific examination human remains found at Britain's World Heritage site of Stonehenge.

The High Court in London ruled that the cremated remains of more than 40 bodies - believed to be at least 5,000 years old - should stay in the hands of archaeologists until at least 2015.

Arthur Uther Pendragon, who styles himself as the Battle Chieftain of the Council of British Druid Orders and a reincarnation of King Arthur, wanted the remains to be reburied immediately.

'Those laid to rest should stay to rest,' the man, a former soldier, said on the steps of the High Court. If the bones were not put back in their burial places, they would end up in a museum, he predicted.

He said he believed the remains belonged to members of the 'royal line' or 'priest caste' of druids, who could have been the 'founding fathers of this great nation' and were acting as the 'guardians' of Stonehenge.

The self-styled king was dressed in white druid robes. Druids were members of the priestly class in Celtic western Europe during the Iron Age.

The Stonehenge remains were excavated by a research team from Sheffield University at the ancient stone circle of Stonehenge, in south-west Britain, in 2008.

Mike Pitts, the scientist leading the research, said his team wanted to re-tell the story of Stonehenge and 'recreate the lives' of its ancient inhabitants. The exact use of the site remains a mystery. It is visited by a million people every year.