The remains of a British woman who is believed to have been mauled to death by a pack of wolves or wild dogs in northern Greece are to be examined by a team of forensic experts in an attempt to understand more about what happened.

Celia Hollingworth died after visiting an archaeological site in Mesimvria last Thursday. A local pathologist aided by specialists from the University of Thrace will conduct a postmortem on Wednesday in the north-eastern town of Komotini.

“This is a very special case.” said the coroner Nikolas Kifnidis. “I am waiting for experts to come so we can examine the remains together.” A veterinary surgeon will also be present.

“Wolves, wild dogs and jackals are known to attack people,” Kifnidis told the Guardian. “There are mountains here, forests here, I have seen it before, Greeks and Bulgarians dying in this way.”

The manner of Hollingworth’s death has shocked authorities. Police are investigating how the 63-year-old tourist came to be at the remote spot where her dismembered body was discovered.

“What was she doing there? It was a very remote place, very difficult to negotiate by foot, and between three to four kilometres away from the archaeological site,” said a police spokesman, Theodoros Chronopoulos. “We are painstakingly trying to piece it together. What happened is unbelievable.”

Chronopoulos said a mobile phone found at the scene along with other items including a passport, hat, shoe and bag could also help shed light on the case. “We have asked for privacy protection data to be lifted to see what her last calls were. They may tell us a lot.”

Greek media have reported that in her last moments Hollingworth made calls to friends and relatives appealing for help.

Hollingworth, a retired university worker and human rights campaigner who lived outside Bradford-on-Avon in Wiltshire, took a taxi on Thursday morning to see antiquities in the area of Thrace, close to the Turkish border. She is believed to have been staying at a hotel in the seaside village of Maronia, between Komotini and Alexandroupolis. The region is rich in antiquities, with monuments scattered across its olive groves, foothills and mountains.

Police have been gathering witness testimony in an attempt to trace her last steps. Chronopoulos said Hollingworth may have been attempting to trek back to Maronia when she got lost. Her disappearance was reported late on Thursday by her brother in the UK to police in Durham, who alerted the British embassy in Athens, which in turn alerted Greek authorities.

“We have been interviewing witnesses and now know she was last seen on the beach at Petroton, not far from the archaeological site, between 4 and 5pm,” Chronopoulos said. “It is very likely she was trying to trek back to Maronia when the attack occurred.”

Neighbours have paid tribute to Hollingworth, emphasising her kindness and saying she was “always doing things for other people”.