Boscombe Bowmen
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The Boscombe Bowmen is the name given by archaeologists to a group of early Bronze Age individuals found in a shared burial at Boscombe Down near Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England.
The grave contained a total of seven burials: three children, a teenager and three men. Analysis of the skulls implies that the men and the teenager were related to each other. The eldest man was buried in a crouched position with the bones of the others scattered around him and their skulls resting at his feet. They became to be know as the Bowmen because several flint arrowheads were placed in the grave, along with a boar's tusk, a bone toggle, flint tools and eight Beaker vessels, an unusually high number.
Lead isotope analysis of the men's teeth has indicated that they grew up in either what is now Wales or the Lake District but left in childhood. This was thought to be contemporary with the major building work of erecting the Sarsen Circle and the trilithons at Stonehenge but new research indicates that these burials occurred shortly after Stonhenge Phase 3ii.[1]
The Bowmen were found in 2003 during roadworks being carried out on behalf of the military contractor that operates the Boscombe Down airfield. The burials are thought to date from around 2300BC, making them broadly contemporary with the Amesbury Archer who was found nearby.
