One of the world's most mysterious archaeological sites, Rujm el-Hiri in the Golan Heights is a wide series of perfectly shaped stone rings, which unique geometry can be only properly disclosed from the air.
Rujm el-Hiri has plenty of theories surrounding its use, with none having a single proof. The target of building the site stays a complete mystery. Was it a Temple? A Memorial? An Astronomical Site of the Ancients?
Rujum el-Hiri
The sign leading to the site
The name Rujm el-Hiri in Arabic means "stone heap of wild cats". The Hebrew name used for the site is Gilgal Refaim, which means "Wheel of Spirits" or "Wheel of Ghosts", and for a good reason.
It is made from 37,500-40,000 tons of partly worked stone stacked some 6.5 feet high, having a diameter of 520 feet. The site is often referred to as the "Stonehenge of the Middle East".
Rujum el-Hiri view
Drone' view of the site
With no organic data to sample, the actual age of the construction is impossible to determine, but it was most likely created between 5,000- 4,000 years ago, much before the invention of writing and definitely before the pyramids were built in Egypt.
Tomb' entrance
The megalithic wonder consists of five circles of piled up basalt rocks surrounding a central cairn. Other smaller stone lines connect the rings in places creating a definitely meaningful but unexplained design.
From the top of this central pile of rocks there is a long corridor leading to a burial chamber. The tomb is empty, and there are no traces found who, when and if ever was buried here. What is positive that the tomb was created some thousand years after the site was created, not before 3,500 years ago.
Brooks and Lakes in the area of Rujum el-Hiri
Whatever the original use for the site was, its mysterious origins continue to fuel wonder and speculation to all who make the trek to the stone rings, why, when and what for.
The only obvious fact is that this mystical structure has a perfect geometrical form, but it can be only seen from the air? And this is exactly a main mystery – why to bring hundreds of people and to spend long years of construction if the only way to see it properly is to fly high into the skies?
A good question with no answer so far!
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