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Experts trying to uncover the source of Stonehenge’s giant stones have been digging in the wrong spot for 90 years.

It has been a puzzle for generations how the huge Welsh blocks, weighing up to four tons, had reached the ancient monument.

Archeologists were certain the 11 bluestones came from Carn Meini one of the Preseli Hills in Pembrokeshire, 150 miles from Stonehenge in Wiltshire.

But geologists using X-rays have discovered the stones actually come from another hill – just over a mile away.

Now archaeologists, who have spent decades digging for evidence of human activity in the wrong location, are moving to the new site.

They hope to discover if prehistoric man cut the monoliths from the hill called Carn Goedog and transported them, or if the blocks were carried to 4,600-year-old Stonehenge by glaciers in the last Ice Age.

Dr Richard Bevins, of the National Museum of Wales, who helped to identify Carn Goedog as the true source of the stones, said: “I don’t expect to get Christmas cards from the archaeologists who have been excavating at the wrong place all these years.”

He added: “This is an incredibly exciting project and we got confirmation last week that our findings have been verified .

“Getting such positive feedback was a great relief.”

Dr Bevins, a leading authority on volcanic rocks, has been studying the Preseli Hills since the 70s.