Archaeoastronomy: The study of stones and stars

Rujm el-Hiri

Rujm el-Hiri in the Golan Heights was created between 3000 B.C.E and 2700 B.C.E by stacking 42,000 relatively small basalt stones in piles up to 6 feet tall. The entrance to the circle opens on sunrise of the summer solstice, while other notches in the walls indicate the spring and fall equinoxes. A burial mound (tumulus) in the center is also oriented toward the summer solstice sunrise.

photo by ABRAHAM GRAICER, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The burial chamber is higher than the rest of the stones, piled up to 15 feet tall.

Picture by Ani Nimi, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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