A missing piece of Stonehenge has been found after 60 years, as experts say it could unlock mysteries of the ancient monument. A long, thin fragment of the enormous sarsen stones was handed to English Heritage by Robert Phillips, who had kept it in his office for decades following excavations in 1958.

Stonehenge is considered a masterpiece of engineering as it is not clear how the 25-tonne stones were moved to their current positions by people without modern technology thousands of years ago.

Mr Phillips was part of a team from Van Moppes, a Basingstoke diamond cutting business, working to raise three of the large stones which had fallen over.

They drilled three 3cm holes into the stones and removed three cores about 108cm long, then inserted metal rods to make them sturdy.

Mr Phillips kept one of the pieces in his office for years.

After he left Van Moppes in 1976 and emigrated to America, the core travelled thousands of miles with him around the country - passing through states including New York, Illinois and California.