The burials were found in 2003 during roadworks being carried out on behalf of Qinetiq, the contractor that operates the Boscombe Down military airfield.
Other grave goods included a boar's tusk, a bone toggle, flint tools, and eight Beaker vessels; an unusually high number.
The burials are thought to date from around 2500 - 2200 BCE,[3] making them broadly contemporary with the Amesbury Archer who had been found the year before about half a kilometre to the south.
[3] Lead isotope analysis of the men's teeth has indicated that they grew up in the areas either of modern Wales or in the Lake District, but left in childhood.
[citation needed] The bowmen feature as characters in Mark Patton's novel Undreamed Shores,[5] and part of the storyline is based on the circumstances of their burial.