Ancient graves have been unearthed on the Greek Aegean island of Kos in a new search for a British toddler who went missing over two decades ago, police said Friday.

“We have actually found some archaeological remains, weve got four graves which date back at least 1,500 to nearly 2,000 years ago,” Detective Inspector Jon Cousins said in a video released by the South Yorkshire Police.

Cousins is part of a team of British experts, supported by Greek police, who are searching outside a Kos farmhouse where Ben Needham, a 21-month-old toddler from the northern English city of Sheffield, went missing in 1991.

Cousins insisted that the discovery of the graves, which must be examined by the Greek archaeological service, “doesn’t hamper what were doing, were cracking on.”

The search began Monday in a large field with olive and fig trees just outside the farmhouse after “new information” came to light in May, according to Cousins.

“As a direct result of an appeal to the people of Kos in May of this year, an independent witness has given an account to officers and this, along with facts that we already knew, has brought officers back to the farmhouse to conduct targeted searches based on the information that we have now,” the South Yorkshire Police department told AFP this week.

Reports say police are now examining the possibility the toddler, who was been played outside the farmhouse, was crushed by a digger clearing land during renovation works.

In past years there have been suspected sightings of young men believed to resemble Ben in Greece and Cyprus, but DNA tests have come back negative.

[AFP]