The Amesbury Archer and the First Bronze Age Britons

In 2002, archaeologists found the burial of a man who died in about 2,300 BC at Amesbury in Wiltshire, England, just three miles from the famous ancient site of Stonehenge. The grave dates to the early Bronze Age in Britain, a time of great change that brought new people to these islands from northern Europe. With them came new technologies like metalworking in and new traditions, involving pottery vessels that archaeologists call Bell Beakers. Most of these Bell beaker era graves contain few burial goods. But this one is different. It contained the richest array of items ever found in a grave from this period in Britain. The astonishing number and richness of the finds also led to the British media calling him “The King of Stonehenge.” So who was this man? Where did he come from and why was he buried here? Did he really have anything to do with the building of Stonehenge or ruling over the area? And what was happening here and in the rest of Britain at this time of immense chang