A SIX-thousand-year-old site is reported to have been "damaged" by workmen starting preparations for the controversial Stonehenge tunnel plans.

Blick Mead, about a mile from Stonehenge, is an ancient spring on Salisbury Plain where important archaeological discoveries have been made, uncovering an array of information about life in Mesolithic Britain.

But last week, contractors from Highways England drilled two boreholes into the landscape to carry out tests relating to the plans to install a tunnel on the A303.

And one has been installed in the path of perfectly preserved auroch (giant prehistoric cattle) hoof prints.

Leader of the Blick Mead project, Professor David Jacques said he was not consulted before the work took place, and called it a "travesty".

"We took great care to excavate this platform and the auroch's hoof prints," he told the BBC.

""If the tunnel goes ahead the water table will drop and all the organic remains will be destroyed.

"If the remains aren't preserved we may never be able to understand why Stonehenge was built."

But Highways England has denied that any damage was caused, and said there was no evidence to support Professor Jacques' claim.

Their spokesman added: "At Professor Jacques' request, we have been monitoring water conditions at Blick Mead to demonstrate that the scheme will have no impact on the site."