A rare megalithic structure, dating back 4,000 years ago, was discovered in the Shamir dolmen field in the western foothills of the Golan Heights.
The unique stone structure is a monumental multi-chamber dolmen. The central chamber is closed from above by a giant stone with carved images and is surrounded by a stone embankment, into which four additional cameras are embedded. According to a team of archaeologists led by Tel Hai College professor Gonen Sharon, it is the first recorded "multi-dolmen" complex in the Levant and one of the largest dolmens ever found in the region.
The diameter of the stone mound is 20 meters, the dimensions of the additional chambers built into it are 1 by 3 meters, each of the small chambers is covered with one or three massive basalt stones. The central chamber is rectangular, measuring three by two meters, and the height of its ceiling before the excavations was 1.7 meters. The total weight of the stones in the complex exceeds 400 tons.
The images, cut into the ceiling of the central chamber, are 14 clearly separated schematic elements. They all turned out to be variations of one motif from a vertical line with a downward-facing arc attached to its upper end. The average element size is about 25 centimeters. They were applied using bronze or stone tools.
“The giant dolmen is without a doubt an indicator of public construction that requires a significant amount of labor over a significant period of time,” says Professor Gonen Sharon, lead author of an article published in PLOS ONE. - During this time, all these people had to be supported and fed. Building such a huge structure required a knowledge of engineering and architecture that small nomadic groups usually did not possess. And more importantly, it required a powerful management system that could gather a large number of labor and, above all, provide control over a large and long-term project. Despite all this, the circumstances associated with the construction of dolmens, the technologies used and the culture of the people who built them,still remains one of the great mysteries of Israel's archeology."
The discovered structure is just one of more than 400 huge stone structures dating back to the Middle Bronze Age (2350-2000 BC) around Kibbutz Shamir.