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| Skeletons
- Amesbury Archer |
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IN May 2002, two bronze age skeletons were discovered at a site on Boscombe Down, just three miles from Stonehenge, in what was one of the richest archaeologist finds ever.
Surrounded by weapons and jewellery, the skeletons are thought to be those of men of extremely high rank, possibly kings or chieftains. The building of Stonehenge started in the late Stone Age around 3,000BC. They would have lived from 2,400 to 2,200BC, when the world-famous stones were erected and archaeologists believe they may have been involved in its creation. Dr Andrew Fitzpatrick, of Wessex Archaeology, said: "We have long suspected that it was people from the continent of Europe who initiated the trade that first brought metalworking to Britain, and this is an important discovery in confirming this." The elder skeleton, aged between 35 and 45 has become known as the Amesbury Archer, and has revealed fascinating facts about his past. He had an abscess on his jaw and had suffered an accident a few years before his death that had torn away his left kneecap. As a result of this injury, he would have walked with a straight left leg which swung out to the side of him and suffered from an infection in his bones that would have caused him constant pain. Tests on the enamel found on the archer's teeth could not reveal how long he had lived in Britain, only that he must have lived in the Alps as a child. Dr Andrew Fitzpatrick said: "He would have been a very important person in the Stonehenge area and it is fascinating to think that someone from abroad, probably modern-day Switzerland, could well have played an important part in the construction of Britain's most famous archaeological site." Also found at the site was a second skeleton of a younger man, aged 20 to 25. Bone analysis has shown that he and the archer were related and it is likely they were father and son. The younger man, it was found, was raised in the Stonehenge area and also in the Midlands or Scotland. The grave has been dated to 2,300 BC, making the burial 4,300 years old and they were buried with intricate earrings, gold and other possessions indicative of their status. In all, the grave contained ten times the number of artefacts found in any other early bronze age burial in Britain. |
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