What should be done if a head (skull) is found in an old grave?

Question

While digging a pond, after digging four cubits, a human head was found; it became known that there was a grave from a very long time ago here. So what should be done now? Should it be left, or is there some way? And is it permissible knowingly to dig a pond on a grave, or to build a house or plant trees there, or not? Will sadaqa have to be given, or will something else have to be done?

Answer

If the graveyard is very old, such that the deceased are no longer present there but have turned into earth, then digging it up and burying another deceased there is correct. If some incomplete remains of the former deceased — some bone or the like — come out, they should be buried to one side in the same grave, and not taken out and thrown away.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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