Situated in plain sight, but unnoticed for centuries, the megalith near the Sea of Galilee left experts in confusion. The ancient monument, consisting of huge stone circles dating from the early Bronze Age, remains a mystery to this day. Nobody knows who and why built these stone rings.
The ancient ruins located in the Golan Heights (a contested region claimed by both Israel and Syria) is a wheel-like pattern of huge piled stones - supposedly 40 thousand tons of black basalt - forming at least five concentric rings, with the central burial cairn in the center.
In Arabic, the object is called Rujm el-Hiri - "a pile of stones of a wild cat." In Hebrew, the wheel is called Gilgal-Rephaim or "wheel of giants." The mention of the race of giants in the Bible - the Rephaims - suggests that it was they who built the composite monument. Rujm el-Hiri is so enormous that only gigantic creatures can build it.
Rujm el-Hiri is called the "Stonehenge of the Levant". The estimated age of the building is about 5000 years. Dating from the second period of the Early Bronze Age (3000-2700 BC), it is believed to be the same age as the prehistoric site of Stonehenge in the UK.
At ground level, it looks like piles of stones from crumbling walls, Reuters reports. Hundreds of dolmens (rock strata) are scattered over a vast area of the site, and therefore only aerial archaeological surveys in the late 1960s finally revealed the complete picture from the air, because from the ground it is impossible to recognize the huge concentric circles.
Excavations have shown that it is one of the largest and very ancient structures in the region.
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No body found in a major burial site
The central burial chamber is surrounded by five to nine huge circular rings, the largest of which is over 500 feet (152 meters) wide and three to eight feet (one to 2.5 meters) high, About Education reported. Not all rings are solid, and some of them are connected by short walls, forming "spokes" in a huge wheel. The walls are of equal thickness, 10.5-10.8 feet (3.2-3.3 m).
It is unknown if the burial cairn was made in the center of this prehistoric megalith at the same time as the original rings. The pile of stones in the center is approximately 15-16 feet (five meters) high and 65-80 feet (20-25 meters) in diameter.
The ancient age and plundering of Rujm el-Hiri left few precious artifacts. The plunderers dropped one pin from the Neolithic era. It is believed that the central cairn may have once contained jewelry and weapons. Excavations of the walled chambers have found no artifacts, indicating that these spaces were not used as storage or living quarters.
To determine the age, radiocarbon analysis cannot be used, since no prehistoric material of an organic nature was found at this place.
A dark entrance to a burial chamber found in the center of a megalithic site.
Uri Berger, an expert on megalithic tombs at the Israel Antiquities Authority, notes: “This is a mysterious place. We have scraps of information, not the full picture. Scientists come, the place amazes them, and they start to invent their own theories,”Haaretz reports.
Inside the burial chamber
According to archaeologists, this site was not used as a residential or defensive structure, but apart from this, there is no consensus on its purpose or function. Nothing like this building has been found in the Middle East.
One theory explaining the purpose of this place is that it is an astrological calendar. According to Uri Berger, at the June and December solstices, the sunrise coincides with holes in the rocks. Some researchers believe that until a burial structure was installed in the center, and it did not block access to the sun's rays on special days, this monument was used for an astrological ritual or sun worship.
Although there is a tomb in the center of the wheel, no human remains have been found inside. According to Popular Archeology, Dr. Rami Arav, a professor of religion and philosophy at the University of Nebraska, suggested that the funeral involved excarnation - that is, "freeing from the flesh" with the help of birds and animals. Then the local residents collected the remains and put them in bone boxes.
Another mystery - who built Rujm el-Hiri? The construction work carried out is very time consuming. It is estimated that the construction of the huge monument took over 25,000 working days. A nomadic civilization could not have such a resource - the extraction and transportation of stone, the necessary infrastructure, notes Reuters.
Archaeologists have not yet come to a consensus about Rujm el-Hiri - one of the most unique and unexplained attractions in this region.