Left: overall view of grave. © Wessex Archaeology

Experts from Wessex Archaeology digging on the site of a new school and housing estate near Amesbury, Wiltshire were amazed to find the grave of a Bronze Age archer, complete with many grave goods, including gold earrings.

The Wessex team were on the site for just seven weeks, excavating what they thought was a Roman graveyard.

Right: excavating the skull. © Wessex Archaeology

"We weren't really surprised to find an earlier burial: we know there are lots of burial sites round here," said Dr Andrew Fitzpatrick, of Wessex Archaeology.

On Friday May 3 archaeologists were working through the Roman layers. Excavator Danny Murphy was sifting patiently and slowly through the earth when a stone arrowhead appeared - obviously much older than the Roman artefacts the team were expecting.

The finds and the dig got progressively more complicated as the day woreon. Then a gold earring was found. "When the first earring came up, I went on to the site, said Dr Fitzpatrick. "The penny began to drop. We slept on it overnight then the magnitude if what we'd found really struck."

"You might expect to find eight or ten finds in a grave of this age - if you are lucky. We have now found just under 100. "

Finds from the site include three copper knives, complete with a wetstone to sharpen them, two beautiful gold earrings, wrist guards used by the archer and many arrowheads.

Digging such as site is always a slow and painstaking business, carried out in an atmosphere of reverence: "it's always a very humbling experience when you are excavating human remains," said Dr Fitzpatrick. "It's a serious thing. We work with humanity and respect for these people. It's always a very different feeling on the site when you're digging human remains."

Experts at the British Museum have already declared the discovery to be of the 'utmost significance.' According to Andrew Fitzpatrick, other experts were 'almost manic with excitement, stunned, disbelieving."

"The discovery of the Amesbury archer now questions what we previously thought of Bronze age society in Wiltshire."

"We had thought it was quite a utilitarian culture, with little opulence or riches. This grave and the finds in it show there were wealthy people around here - here's the proof. He was clearly an individual of a wealthy status of a degree not seen before. "

So just who was this prosperous archer? A warrior or king? He died around 2300bc, about the time that the most spectacular sequence of building at Stonehenge occurred. Was he in some way connected to the people who built Stonehenge? The grave is five miles or so from the stone circle.

What happens now to the finds is easier to discern. The gold items wil be the subject of a Treasure Trove hearing, and may well at some point be bought for a local museum or end up in the British Museum.

This could all take some time, according to Andrew Fitzpatrick. Other finds, such as the pottery from the site and the arrowheads may be displayed in one of the local museums which already show some of the fascinating discoveries already made in the area around Stonehenge.

Visit the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum to see an award winning Stonehenge display. There's also Devizes Museum and the Dorset County Museum in Dorchester with good collections of pre-historic artefacts to see.

And finally: keep up with further news of the Amesbury Archer on the website of Wessex Archaeology: www.wessexarch.co.uk/