The partial skeleton, which includes a skull and other bones, was found on the 18,000-acre Eriboll Estate owned by Anders Holch Povlsen, reportedly Scotland’s richest man.

The bones were found under a large boulder as part of works to restore the estate’s walls, The Press and Journal reports.

Discovered earlier this year, they have now been analysed and found to be around 2,500 years old.

Andrew Adamson, estate manager for Wildland Ltd, said: “The skull and bones were placed under a large boulder at the bottom of scree. It was obvious from the start they were pretty old.

“The stone dykers were pretty realistic about the find. They just said they had found a pile of bones. They were probably placed there all those thousands of years ago.

“There is quite a lot of archaeology in the area, a quern stone (a stone tool for hand-grinding a wide variety of materials) believed to be from the same period has also been found.”