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Archaeologists spent decades treating Rujm el-Hiri as a one-of-a-kind puzzle. A vast maze of basalt rings near the Sea of Galilee, nearly five thousand years old and stretching 492 feet across. Locals call it the Wheel of Ghosts. Researchers called it the Stonehenge of the East. Now satellite data shows the whole region has been slowly rotating the monument out from under the old theories, and the site is not even unique. Researchers from Tel Aviv University and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev first used satellite imagery to map hundreds of features around the site, including tumuli, linear walls, and...

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 megalithic complex of Rogem Hiri (Rujm al-Hiri in Arabic, meaning stone heap of the wild cat) is located in the central Golan, some 16 km. east of the Sea of Galilee, on a desolate plateau of basalt boulders. Since its discovery in a survey of the Golan in the late 1960s, this mysterious site has aroused the curiosity of archeologists. Between 1988 and 1991, archeological excavations and research were conducted in order to establish facts and determine the time of its construction and its function. Rogem Hiri is a monumental construction of local basalt fieldstones of various sizes. It...