A TEAM of archaeologists has unearthed the grave of a 4,000 year-old archer - with gold earrings - on a Boscombe Down building site.

The burial site was discovered by the Wessex Archaeology team last week during a routine survey on the site of a proposed school for Amesbury.

The team had been asked to excavate the site in advance of the development of the school and some 550 new homes and other community facilities by Bloor Homes and Persimmon Homes South Coast.

The excavation was necessary because the area is renowned for its Romano-British and Neolithic artefacts. It has resulted in what experts described this week as "the richest early Bronze Age burial site in Britain".

Dr Andrew Fitzpatrick, project manager for Wessex Archaeology, said: "We discovered the grave in the course of excavating a Roman cemetery that we already knew was there.

"What we couldn't have anticipated was uncovering such an unique find."

The grave has been identified as that of an archer, on the basis of stone arrowheads, stone wrist guards, tool kits and other archery equipment associated with the body.