Professor Wainwright said: 'It could be that people were flaking off pieces of bluestone in order to create little bits to take away...as lucky amulets.'

Professor Darvill said: 'Taking those pieces to become talismans - lucky charms - to be used in the healing process is very important.

'Their meaning and importance to prehistoric people was sufficiently powerful to warrant the investment of time, effort and resources to move the bluestones from the Preseli Hills to the Wessex Downs.'