Reported by: Emon CRWE Newswire Middle East correspondent.

Archeologists discovered a 3,550 year old fossil of a young boy near Stonehenge in 2005. Chemical analysis of the boy’s tooth enamel showed that he likely grew up on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. This is the second time that fossils of persons believed to be foreign-born were found near the site.

The boy’s body was found about five kilometers south-east of Stonehenge, wearing an amber necklace. Near the remains of a teenager is a mound, dating to the Bronze Age. Head of the archaeological department of British Geological Survey, Jane Evans, said that the location of burial, the proximity of Stonehenge and a necklace suggest that the 14-15 year old man had a high social status.

People buried with exotic materials and jewelry were likely of importance, according to Andrew Fitzpatrick of Wessex Archaeology. Professor Evans likened Stonehenge of the Bronze Age to the modern Westminster Abbey today.

Scientists used tooth enamel to conclude that the boy was from the Mediterranean because tooth enamel is formed in the first few years of person’s life. Different combination of oxygen isotopes and strontium in the chemical composition identifies the kind of food, and especially the kind of water used by the person. In warmer climates the water contains a higher proportion of heavy oxygen (0-18) compared with light (0-16) than in cold climates. The number of strontium (Sr) isotopes 86Sr and 87Sr varies depending on the geology of the area.

This is not the first discovery of foreign-born remains at Stonehenge. Previously, a man nicknamed “The Archer of Amesbury”, who is believed to have died about 4,300 years ago during the Copper and Early Bronze Age, was uncovered and in his tomb, archeologists found some of the earliest gold and copper objects in Britain. He lived in a period when steel had just appeared on the island, but had apparently already had skills working with metal, which was quite rare for the time, and suggested to archeologists that he was relatively high on the social ladder. An analysis of tooth enamel of this man revealed that he spent his childhood in the foothills of the Alps in Germany.

The appearance of the men in the vicinity of Stonehenge is easily explained: the beginning of the Bronze Age in Europe was accompanied by the active migration of people, ideas, and objects of material culture for one or two centuries. At the time when the “Boy with an amber necklace” lived, however, Britain had not yet suffered from the onslaught of technology. The only more or less credible explanation, which may offer scientists, lies in the fact that Stonehenge was famous throughout Europe, and the young man was a member of a group of high pilgrims from the Mediterranean coast.

The results will be presented in London at a symposium in honor of the 175th anniversary of the British Geological Survey.

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