Posted on 01/06/2025 6:57:14 AM PST by Red Badger
A new study by researchers from Tel Aviv University and Ben-Gurion University reveals that geodynamic shifts over millions of years reoriented the ancient Rujm el-Hiri site, challenging its long-held identification as an astronomical observatory. Using advanced geophysical methods and remote sensing, the team uncovered the site’s original alignment and provided new insights into its potential purpose and the surrounding archaeological landscape. Credit: Abraham Graicer, Wikimedia Commons. CC 4.0
A scientific discovery challenges the common perception of Rujm el-Hiri in the Golan Heights.
A new study by Tel Aviv University and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has unveiled groundbreaking insights into the Rujm el-Hiri site, also known as the “Wheel of Ghosts,” located in the Golan Heights. Using geomagnetic analysis and tectonic reconstruction, researchers have determined that geodynamic movements over the past 150 million years, occurring at an average rate of 8–15 mm per year, caused significant shifts in the ground. These movements gradually rotated and reoriented the site’s structure over millennia.
This discovery casts doubt on the prevailing theory that the structure served as an astronomical observatory. The researchers found that the original alignment of the site’s walls and entrances does not align with celestial patterns, contradicting earlier hypotheses about its purpose.
The study was conducted by a research team led by Dr. Olga Khabarova and Prof. Lev Eppelbaum of the Department of Geophysics at Tel Aviv University’s Porter School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, in collaboration with Dr. Michal Birkenfeld of Ben-Gurion University’s Department of Archaeology. The findings were published in the journal Remote Sensing.
The researchers employed geophysical methods and remote sensing techniques to demonstrate that Rujm el-Hiri’s current orientation differs from its original position due to thousands of years of geodynamic shifts. This discovery raises new questions regarding the site’s possible identification as an observatory. The team conducted initial mapping and documentation of the archaeological landscape within 30 kilometers around the Sea of Galilee. It visually analyzed the region to identify typical landscape features associated with historical human activity and the reconstruction of archaeological objects.
Reassessment of Rujm el-Hiri’s Alignment
According to the research team, “The study was based on calculations of the sky map and aligning the directions of the solstices, equinoxes, and other celestial bodies as they appeared between 2500–3500 BCE, coordinated with the symmetry and entrances of Rujm el-Hiri in its current position. The findings show that the entrances and radial walls during that historical period were entirely different, reopening the question of the site’s purpose.”
The research team explains: “Due to geodynamic movement lasting approximately 150 million years, at an average speed of 8–15 mm per year, the ground in the area has undergone significant shifts. The orientation of the walls and entrances in their original positions does not align with celestial observations, as previously believed.”
Rujm el-Hiri. (a) Geographic location, (32°54′30.87″N, 35°48′3.89″E); (b) Aerial view, adapted from [21]; (c) Distance-height profile of the surrounding area relative to the northernmost point of the Sea of Galilee (vertical axis—altitude below/above sea level, in m; horizontal axis—the distance in km). The vertical line indicates the location of Rujm el-Hiri. Credit: Remote Sensing, 10.3390/rs16224239
The study also provides the first comprehensive mapping of the archaeological landscape surrounding Rujm El-Hiri, using advanced satellite technology. Unique landscape features were identified, including circular structures with 40–90 meters diameters, thick walls, and round enclosures approximately 20 meters in diameter, which appeared to serve agricultural or herding purposes. Dozens of burial mounds (tumuli) were documented in the area, some of which were likely used as storage facilities, shelters, or dwellings, in addition to their traditional role as burial sites.
The researchers conclude: “This new study not only opens a window to understanding Rujm el-Hiri but also enriches our knowledge of ancient life in the Golan Heights and the connections between various archaeological findings in the area.”
Reference:
“Discussion Points of the Remote Sensing Study and Integrated Analysis of the Archaeological Landscape of Rujm el-Hiri”
by Olga Khabarova, Michal Birkenfeld and Lev V. Eppelbaum, 13 November 2024, Remote Sensing.
DOI: 10.3390/rs16224239
The ancients loved them some medicine wheels. Just like piling up dirt and rocks to build mounds for their “mountain house” gods.
Natufian, yes?
It has..................
Too ‘new’.....................😁
When you buy a recliner cover, they send a plastic circle device that looks just like that to tie the straps in the back of the chair.
Question is: Where is the giant now?
[snip] One popular, but controversial, theory is that medicine wheels are ancient observatories of sorts. This explanation, put forth by the astronomer John "Jack" Eddy in the 1970s, rests upon the fact that medicine wheel geometries can often reflect various celestial alignments. [/snip]The Medicine Wheels of North America(same problem)
Trevor David | AtlasObscura | February 11, 2010
Thanks for the pings, this is about half the age of the tail end of the Natufians.
Amazing!
:-)
:^) There's a maze set up with low concentric walls around the Mystery Hill ("America's Stonehenge") that I've never seen talked about. The site is much larger than the barrow structure at the center, something that becomes clear to visitors. I wouldn't have noticed it, but at that time (hmm, late 1970s I think) there was a plaque that pointed out a supposed heelstone-like pointy stone well off the core of the site. Mazes are a type of ritual architecture that seems to have been popular here and there around the world and for a long time. I'm not sympathetic to the most claims of archaeoastronomy.
I too was initially confused about the references to millions of years ago. At first I thought this was going to be used to suggest this was some extremely ancient human or alien structure, but finally they said it concerned something between 4 and 6 thousand years ago. I’m glad they have found a lot of others potential sites of interest to explore.
There is an approximate 26,000 year rotation of the orientation of the earth. Currently our North is pointed toward a star (I think Polaris is the name), but in 13,000 years our north will point toward the star Vega if I remember correctly.
In other words astrological signs work for people born today, but divide 26,000 by 12 signs of the zodiac and King Tut would certainly have been born under a different sign, and most likely Alexander and Ceasar as well. A real problem for modern astrologers trying to assign events in their lives using modern designations.
See my comments 31, 32, and 33.
finally they said it concerned something between 4 and 6 thousand years ago.
—
Based on bits of detritus they could carbon date. But that does not square with the orientation of the feature which is oriented to the stars of 150 million years ago - as I read it.
Those sorts love to keep the status quo and will say anything, attach any number, etc, to maintain it. For them its simply impossible that any civilization could have existed 150 million years ago - because as we all ‘know’ that in 4.5 billion years the Earth is said to have been around, only one civilization could have arisen - ours.
If our civilization ended now, in 20,000 years there would be no detectable trace. Keep in mind that, until a decade ago, these same people said there were no civilizations prior to the Sumerians - which we now know to be false having found Gobekli Teppi at 12,500 years before present. So how many could have arisen in 150,000,000 years and have left nothing to be found except some stones and earth works? Stones and earthworks get repurposed all the time - so its surprising they found this one.
If built 150 million years ago, even postulating intelligent dinosaurs, that circle would no longer exist. Given that the direction of true north pivots completely roughly every 26,000 years there is no way to say what the earth’s orientation was 150M years ago. It is true a lot of useful work has yet to be done on possible civilization remains under water, but so far as knowledge about early civilizations other than Sumerian being only a decade old, that is not true. I first became interested in ancient civilizations about 70 years ago. Over the following years I was delighted to learn about the Indus Valley cultures, and the much older Clovis culture in North America. Granted archeology science was a little slow to get off the nothing before Clovis pot, but individuals were fighting that 40 years ago. Then on the East Coast I met a California scientist who was part of a small group trying to achieve recognition of remains that might have been closer to 200,000 years old.
We know that for the past million years earth has cycled through warm and ice age cycles at roughly 125,000 year intervals. I think it is certainly possible that in the short warm periods some hominids could have achieved a Stonehenge level of sophistication (which was a bit older than Sumer), but geological processes would have destroyed, buried, or drowned.
If you want a real puzzle no one seems to be working on these days, check out the area in Africa below the Okavanga Delta. I spent a number of hours using Goodle Earth to survey an amazing pattern of one mile separated ditches that covers an area more than 400 miles by 400 or more miles. No one is apparently studying this huge complex. With Google Earth you can come down to 50 or 100 feet above land. My thought was how many years and laborers would it take to dig so many ditches so wide, deep, and long. Some areas seem much older and worn down than others, and I saw a suggestion some might be 20,000 or more years old. My guess is that what ever culture(s) were doing this did it for the common good of having water filled channels year round. No authoritarian rulers with big palaces visible there. Perhaps some of the big project thinkers finally moved east and built Great Zimbabway. Always fun to speculate.
> Using geomagnetic analysis and tectonic reconstruction, researchers have determined that geodynamic movements over the past 150 million years, occurring at an average rate of 8–15 mm per year, caused significant shifts in the ground. These movements gradually rotated and reoriented the site’s structure over millennia.
The writer or the editor expressed that rather awkwardly, but the article also gives the dating estimate correctly.
RE: Okavanga delta
Can you give a link to the region with the irrigation canals?
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