The bones look to be a forearm and a jawbone with a tooth still attached.

The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage is investigating human remains found in a field in Mellieħa.

It was British national Craig Mountford, 56, a former police officer, who spotted the remains as he was walking with his wife, Sandra, when the two were holidaying in Malta this week.

Mr Mountford told The Sunday Times of Malta when contacted that he spotted the remains on Thursday and notified the police.

“I was a police officer so I know the difference between animal and human remains. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the bones I spotted are human remains.

"There seem to be the forearm bone and even the jawbone with one tooth still stuck on. I think I stumbled upon a pretty interesting find while I was on holiday here,” he said, adding that soon after he had alerted the police, forensics experts arrived at the site.

A spokesman for the police said that the remains were examined and the report was passed on to the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage to investigate the matter, since the remains were obviously very old.