Amesbury Archer

The Amesbury Archer (c. 2340 BC - c. 2300 BC) is an early Bronze Age (Bell Beaker) man whose grave was discovered during excavations at the site of a new housing development (grid reference SU16324043) 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. Previously, Bronze Age society had been assumed not to have been particularly hierarchical.

The calibrated radiocarbon dates for his grave, and dating of Stonehenge, suggest the sarsens and trilithons at Stonehenge may have been raised by the time he was born, although a new bluestone circle may have been raised around the time of his birth.