The Amesbury Archer ( 2340 BC - 2300 BC) in Amesbury near Stonehenge. The grave was uncovered in May 2002. The man was middle aged when he died, estimated between 35 and 45, around 2300 BC. He is nicknamed "the Archer" because of the many arrowheads buried with him. The grave contained more artefacts than any other early British Bronze Age burial, including the earliest known gold objects ever found in England. It was the first evidence of a very high status and wealth expressed in a burial from that time. although a new bluestone circle may have been raised around the time of his birth.

Burial

The Archer's grave yielded the greatest number of artefacts ever found in a British burial from the Early Bronze Age. Among those discovered were: five funerary pots of the type associated with the Beaker culture; three tiny copper knives; sixteen barbed flint arrowheads; a kit of flint-knapping and metalworking tools, including cushion stones that functioned as a kind of portable anvil, which suggests he was a coppersmith; and some boar tusks. A piece of iron pyrite, which sparks when struck by flint to start a fire, had been well used with grooves worn along its sides.

The anatomy of the Archer has been well documented, with several unusual features including os acromiale whereby the acromion at the tip of the scapula was not fused as is usual,

His skeleton is now on display at the Salisbury Museum in Salisbury.

Second burial

A male skeleton found interred nearby is believed to be that of a younger man related to the Archer, as they shared a rare hereditary anomaly, calcaneonavicular coalition, fusing of the calcaneus and of the navicular tarsal (foot bones). This younger man, sometimes called the Archer's Companion, appears to have been raised in a more local climate. The Archer was estimated to be about forty at the time of his death, while his companion was in his early twenties. The graves were discovered a short distance from the Boscombe Bowmen, whose bones were excavated the following year.

Importance of the burials

The Archer was quickly dubbed the King of Stonehenge in the British press due to the proximity of the famous monument and some even suggested that he could have been involved in its construction. However, such speculations have been rejected by archaeologists.

His is just one high-profile burial that dates from around the time of the stones' erection, but given the lavish nature of the grave his mourners clearly considered him important enough to be buried near to (if not in the immediate area of) Stonehenge. Tim Darvill regards the skeleton as possibly that of a pilgrim visiting Stonehenge to draw on the 'healing properties' of the bluestones.

His grave is of particular importance because of its connections with Continental Europe and early copper smelting technology. He is believed to be one of the earliest gold metalworkers in Britain, and he provides an example of a person bringing Bell Beaker culture and its pottery directly from continental Europe. Later, a successful sample was taken from the Archer and analysed. It appears that both the Archer and the Companion in the male line (Y-chromosome) had Steppe ancestry, the Archer being classified as R1b1a1b1a1a (haplogroup R-L151) and the Companion as R1b1a1b1a1a2c1 (haplogroup R-L21). The two men were not related in the 1st or 2nd degree, although a more distant relationship, such as great-grandfather / great-grandson, is possible.

It had already been shown from strontium and oxygen isotope analysis of the Archer's 2nd premolar and 3rd molar teeth (which mineralise at different ages) that the Archer spent his childhood in Central Europe, probably in the Western Alps. By contrast the Companion appears to have been born in Wessex, but spent part of his childhood in Europe, perhaps in the same region of the Western Alps. is based on the Archer.

See also

  • Boscombe Bowmen
  • Stonehenge Archer

References

Bibliography

  • Wessex Archaeology: The Amesbury Archer
  • Salisbury Museum page on the archer
  • 24 Hour Museum – Amesbury Archer was an Alpine Settler Say Experts
  • BBC Radio 4 programme on the Amesbury Archer