LONDON (TIP): British archaeologists have discovered a 6,000year-old `eco-home’ close to the iconic prehistoric Stonehenge monument. The shelter -in a hollow left behind by a fallen tree -at Blick Mead was used over a 90-year period from 4336 BC, archaeologists believed. They said the minimalist property close to Stonehenge dates from between 4336BC to 4246BC, making it about 6,000 years old.

Archaeologist David Jac ques, said: “They … used the stump of the tree, about three metres high, as a wall.”

The finds are being shown to UN heritage experts, who are currently visiting Stonehenge, the ancient stone circle that has puzzled scholars for centuries. Archaeologists are concerned a planned 2.9 km tunnel being considered for the nearby A303 main road will damage the site.

Discoveries have also shown stones were warmed up by the Mesolithic Period inhabitants and used in a hearth to emit heat in the earthy snug. Jacques, a senior research fellow at the University of Buckingham, has worked at Blick Mead for over a decade, making a number of discoveries about the inhabitants. The tree stump created a wall height similar to a “modern bungalow”.

“They’ve draped probably animal skins or thatch around the basin and connect ed it to a post so it’s a very com fortable snug little place,” Jac ques was quoted as saying by the BBC. The wooden wall o the hollow was lined with flints and the large earthy pi created by the tree root lined with cobbles and decorated with “exotic” stones from out side the area. “There are some clever and sophisticated thi ngs going on, the hot stones that they put into this little type of alcove wouldn’t have been on fire,” said Jacques.