'Very Old' Human Remains Found In Vicinity Of Harry And Meghan's California Mansion

Jun 02, 2021 by apost team

In January 2020, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry made a bombshell announcement, telling the world that they would be stepping back from their senior roles as members of the royal family. A lot has happened since that stunning news last year. Not only have the prince and his wife taken a step back from the royal family, but they also moved to Montecito, California, where Meghan is expected to give birth to a daughter this summer.

On June 1, The Daily Mail reported on another interesting development at the couple’s relatively new Montecito residence: authorities discovered human remains on the property. But the bones, which workers found during a landscaping and construction project on May 24, aren’t a cause for concern given their age. According to The Mail’s reporting, they appear to be centuries-old bones from a Native American who lived in the area.

The couple purchased the Montecito mansion for $14 million back in August 2020, after living in Frogmore Cottage together, then in Canada and finally in Southern California. Montecito, which means “little mount” in Spanish, is part of Santa Barbara County, located east of the famous beach town. The small community is known for its good weather, palm trees and the Santa Ynez Mountains.

But long before Meghan and Harry’s arrival in Montecito — around 13,000 years ago — the Chumash people lived in the area. There are around 7,000 descendants of the Chumash Native Americans living today despite Spanish efforts, led by explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, to colonize the area in the 16th century.

The bones of what authorities say may be from a Chumash Native American were described by a spokesperson from the Santa Barbara sheriff's office as “old” and that of a “young adult.”

The spokesperson further explained to The Mail that workers had discovered the human remains during a landscaping and construction project on the property. Once they were unearthed, the sheriff's office employed a forensic anthropologist to help identify the bones.

Although the remains were found in late May, the British tabloid first reported on the findings on June 1, writing that “early reports” seem to suggest that the remains could be from the Chumash Native Americans. The spokesperson for the sheriff's office admitted that this might be the case “because we live in that area (where the Chumash lived)”; however, she added that until the authorities have an “official opinion from the forensic anthropologist,” the sheriff’s office won’t make any hard distinctions “one way or the other.”

The spokesperson did confirm that the remains, which workers found buried around three feet beneath the ground, have no connection to Harry or Meghan.

According to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, the Chumash lived along the coast of California and on the Channel Islands. Before the Spanish colonized the coast, these coastal Native Americans had a rich culture and rather large community, with 150 towns and villages, a population of at least 25,000 and a diverse set of six languages. The first Chumash people lived in the area more than 10,000 years ago, using natural resources to make baskets, canoes, tools and beads.

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Given that trade was important to the Chumash, it’s perhaps no surprise that they developed their own currency out of beads, which they used to trade among the many settlements along the coast.

In the mid-16th century, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, a Spanish explorer, encountered these indigenous people and colonized the area, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.

Because of the Chumash people’s long history in the area, it would make sense that the bones found at Harry and Meghan’s mansion, which is located where these many communities lived, are from this group of Native Americans.

According to House Beautiful, Harry and Meghan paid over $14 million for the Montecito property, which includes an 18,000-square-foot home equipped with 16 bathrooms, nine bedrooms, a two-bedroom guest house, a tennis court, a pool and a chicken coop. The large Mediterranean-style mansion is quite a departure from Frogmore Cottage in Windsor, England, where the couple lived for less than a year.

But the couple has moved around a lot lately, first going to Canada and then living in one of Tyler Perry’s mansions in Beverly Hills. Given that the couple is expecting a baby girl soon, it’s likely that they will stay in Montecito, however.

“My husband and I are thrilled to soon be welcoming a daughter,” Meghan said of her unborn child in May. “It’s a feeling of joy we share with millions of other families around the world. When we think of her, we think of all the other families around the globe who must be given the ability and support to lead us forward.”

What do you think of this development? Did you know about the Chumash people? Let us know — and be sure to pass this interesting article on to fellow fans of the royal family.