King Alfred the Great - found in a box

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Alfred the Great's statue in Winchester

Researchers say they may have discovered remains of King Alfred the Great, the 9th-century royal remembered for protecting England from the Vikings and educating an untutored nation.

The University of Winchester said in a statement Friday that a pelvis bone recovered from a box of skeletal remains in the city's museum is likely to be from the leader or a member of his immediate family.

The findings don't definitively answer the riddle of what happened to King Alfred's remains, not least because researchers can't tell whether the bone in question belongs to the king or to his son, King Edward the Elder.

But though DNA evidence is also lacking, outside scholars say there's a good case for the bones belonging to a 9th-century royal.