A partial human skeleton discovered Wednesday afternoon in a vacant lot next to 700 Monroe St., was being examined today by an anthropologist from the Mississippi Crime Lab to determine its age and direct its removal.

“It is not forensic, it’s not a crime scene,” Warren County Coroner Doug Huskey said at 10 this morning. “It appears to be an old burial. A lot of people did use to bury the dead in their yards.”

Leg bones up to the knees had been uncovered this morning, and it was not clear if a complete skeleton would be found.

Huskey said Vicksburg police notified him of the discovery around 6:15 p.m. Wednesday, and deputy coroner Ronald Reagan briefly checked the site before police secured it for the night, covering the remains with a tarp and sealing the area with yellow crime scene tape. He said police patrols guarded the site, about a block north of First East Street across from where Commerce Street abuts Monroe, all night.

Huskey examined the skeleton briefly this morning, awaiting the arrival of anthropologist Lynee Boackle in order to protect possible historical artifacts or a potential crime investigation. “We have to be very careful around here because we are always finding Civil War stuff,” he said.

A number of police investigators and patrol officers were also at the site this morning, as well as Elvin McFerrin, whose wife, Pam, discovered the skeleton. The McFerrins own the property next door, which includes the Governor McNutt House, which is listed on the National Historic Register.

McFerrin said his wife had been checking out what appeared to be bones in the washout area north of the building that formerly was Children’s House Montessori when a short distance away she noticed the skeleton.

“They appeared to be of the ankle area,” Elvin McFerrin said. Pam McFerrin uncovered the bones up to both knees before her husband advised her to stop and call the police. “I call her an aspiring anthropologist,” he said with a smile.

The McFerrins have owned the neighboring property for about a year and a half, he said, and a derelict home that stood there was torn down by the city last year.

The house appeared to have been abandoned for 20 years or more, he said.

A driveway and steps down to the former home site remain. McFerrin said the skeleton’s site is next to, not under, where the home stood.

Huskey said Civil War-era bones have been found in the area during his four-plus years as coroner, but never a complete skeleton. Boackle will direct removal of the bones after making initial determinations today, Huskey said.