The Spirit Wheel or Rujum el-Hiri is an ancient structure in Israel, which, according to researchers, may be older than Stonehenge. However, the more it is studied, the more questions arise before researchers.
The structure of the monument is interesting. The stones in the Wheel of Spirits, the mass of which reaches 37.5-40 thousand tons, were laid out in circles around the center - the mound. The outer circle of stones is 156 meters in diameter and 2.4 meters high. Through the stone "gate" of one of the mound circles, one could see the sunrise on the day of the equinox. Others pointed to the nearest extinct volcanoes - the Tel Fares and Tel es-Saki mountains, which have been badly destroyed since ancient times and now barely noticeably protrude above the ground.
The mound in the middle of the spirit wheel reaches 4.5 meters in height and has a small chamber inside, into which a long corridor leads. Archaeologist Mikhail Freikman, who has been studying the monument in recent years, found that on the day of the summer solstice, the sun's rays fall exactly on a large stone inside the mound. The researcher suggests that in ancient times sacrifices were performed on it.
However, inside the mound, archaeologists found surprisingly little - some gold earrings, elements of weapons and several artifacts that could belong to a burial of a later period - 1500-1300 BC.
According to one version, the Wheel of Spirits was erected in 3000-2700 BC, during the Copper Age, as was the village that formed around it. Interestingly, people did not settle close to the building, but housing was already being built at a distance of 300-350 meters.
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According to another version, the settlement appeared about 4000 years BC. Analysis of the sand from the chamber of the mound indicates approximately the same period - it has not been touched by a ray of the sun for 5640 ± 290 years.
What kind of people lived near the Wheel of Spirits at that time? The researchers found that the people who lived in the settlement were not so primitive - they used polished stones to grind grain and knew how to make sickles from silicon wafers. They also built granaries, of course, the Eshkolot website writes.
Basalt figurines of the gods were found from sacred objects. Interestingly, they were all split in half, and, as the researchers say, this could not have been an accident. Sometimes the destruction of such a god required considerable effort.
The passage leading to the inner chamber of the mound
Archaeologists suggest that new generations left the homes of their ancestors, burning them out and closing all entrances and exits to them. Statues of the gods were split in half, just like other household items. Thus, the house of the forefathers was symbolically "buried", and, according to the assumption of archaeologists, the grandson or great-grandson of the one who built the house did it.
Indeed, dolmens were found near the houses. These were U-shaped structures made of huge heavy stone boulders with burials, possibly of the same ancestors - the owners of the houses. No burials were found in the Wheel of Spirits itself.
However, if the life of people of that time can still be imagined, judging by the finds, what the Wheel of Spirits was for them is impossible to say with certainty. How it was used and how such a majestic structure was erected, the construction of which required incredible efforts, is difficult to answer.
Whether it was an observatory, a sanctuary, or a social and cultural center of a community - these mysteries still confront archaeologists.