The '''Boscombe Bowmen''' is a name given by [[archaeologist]]s to a group of early [[Bronze Age]] burials found at [[Boscombe Down]] near [[Stonehenge]] in [[Wiltshire]] in the [[United Kingdom]].
They were called Bowmen as [[flint]] arrowheads were placed in the grave, along with a boar's tusk, a bone toggle, flint tools and eight [[Beaker people|Beaker]] vessels, an unusually high number.
[[Lead]] [[isotope analysis]] of the men's teeth has indicated that they grew up in either modern day [[Wales]] or the [[Lake District]] but left in childhood. Given that the [[bluestone]]s used in Stonehenge III came from the [[Preseli Hills]] in Wales it is tempting to associate these contemporary burials with the people who may have brought the stones to [[Salisbury Plain]].
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.
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 though to be broadly contemporary with that of the [[Amesbury Archer]], dating to around 2300 BC.
==External links==
*[http://www.boscombebowmen.com Official Boscombe Bowmen information site]
*[http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/projects/wiltshire/boscombe/bowmen/press_release.html Wessex Archaeology press release]
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