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<< Other Photo Pages >> Engraved dolmen near Kibbutz Shamir - Burial Chamber or Dolmen in Israel

Submitted by motist on Monday, 06 March 2017  Page Views: 3166

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Engraved dolmen near Kibbutz Shamir
Country: Israel
NOTE: This site is 2.4 km away from the location you searched for.

Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen
Nearest Town: Qiryat Shemona  Nearest Village: Kibbutz Shamir
Latitude: 33.163137N  Longitude: 35.664378E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
4 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
3 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
3 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
2

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Engraved dolmen near Kibbutz Shamir
Engraved dolmen near Kibbutz Shamir submitted by motist : Engraved dolmen near Kibbutz Shamir photo :Israel Antiquities Authority (Vote or comment on this photo)
Archaeologists from Tel Hai College, the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have recently discovered a dolmen over 4,000 years old in a large field of dolmens adjacent to Kibbutz Shamir in the Upper Galilee.

What makes this dolmen so unique is its huge dimensions, the structure surrounding it and most importantly, the artistic decorations engraved in its ceiling. The study was published on Thursday in the scientific journal PLOS One.

The dolmen was discovered during a fortuitous visit to the site by Professor Gonen Sharon of the Galilee Studies Program at the Tel Hai College. It is just one of more than 400 huge stone structures dating to the Intermediate Bronze Age (over four thousand years ago) and located in the dolmen field around Kibbutz Shamir. When Professor Sharon entered the chamber built beneath the largest dolmen he was surprised to discover rock drawings engraved in its ceiling.

The discovery of the engravings led to a research project of the dolmen and its environs which produced new revelations concerning the dolmen phenomenon in Israel.

"This is the first art ever documented in a dolmen in the Middle East," said Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist Uri Berger, who is also a partner in the study. "The engraved shapes depict a straight line going to the center of an arc. About fifteen such engravings were documented on the ceiling of the dolmen, spread out in a kind of arc along the ceiling

No parallels exist for these shapes in the engraved rock drawings of the Middle East, and their significance remains a mystery. The panel depicting the art was scanned in the field by the Computerized Archaeology Laboratory of the Hebrew University. By means of an innovative technique, a three-dimensional model of the engraving was produced."

"The three-dimensional scan enabled us to identify engravings that otherwise could not be seen with the naked eye," explained Laboratory Director Professor Lior Grossman.

The chamber inside the dolmen where the engravings were found on its ceiling is large, measuring 6.6' × 9.8' (2x3 meters), and the stone covering it is also huge, weighing an estimated fifty tons at least.

This is one of the largest stones ever used in the construction of dolmens in the Middle East. The dolmen was enclosed within an enormous stone heap (tumulus) c. 20 meters in diameter, and its stones are estimated to weigh a minimum of 400 tons.

At least four smaller dolmens positioned at the foot of the decorated dolmen were identified inside the stone heap. In other words, archaeologists found a huge monumental structure built hierarchically (with a main cell and secondary cells).

This is the first time such a hierarchical dolmen has been identified in the Middle East.
The huge dolmen at Kibbutz Shamir is just one of hundreds of enormous densely scattered structures in this region. It bears witness to the existence of a significant and established governmental system in the region during the "Middle Ages" of the Bronze Age.

Archaeologists tend to interpret the past based on material finds. The absence of cities, large settlements and monumental buildings attests to the collapse of the governmental and economic systems during a "dark period" in history.

The dolmens tell a different story about the period – a story about a society that had a complex governmental and economic system that executed monumental engineering projects but did not leave behind any other archaeological evidence.

"The gigantic dolmen at Kibbutz Shamir is without doubt an indication of public construction," says Professor Sharon, "which required a significant amount of manpower over a considerable period of time. During that time all of those people had to be housed and fed.

"The building of such a huge construction necessitated knowledge of engineering and architecture that small nomadic groups did not usually possess. And even more importantly, a strong system of government was required here that could assemble a large amount of manpower, provide for the personnel and above all direct the implementation and control of a large and lengthy project."

Despite all this, the circumstances surrounding the construction of the dolmens, the technology involved in it and the culture of the people who built them are still one of the great mysteries of the archaeology of Israel.

Source: Israel Antiquities Authority Press Release

Note: This is the first art ever documented in a dolmen in the Middle East, according to the researchers:
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Engraved dolmen near Kibbutz Shamir
Engraved dolmen near Kibbutz Shamir submitted by motist : Engraved dolmen near Kibbutz Shamir photo :Israel Antiquities Authority (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

Engraved dolmen near Kibbutz Shamir
Engraved dolmen near Kibbutz Shamir submitted by motist : Engraved dolmen near Kibbutz Shamir photo :Israel Antiquities Authority (Vote or comment on this photo)

Engraved dolmen near Kibbutz Shamir
Engraved dolmen near Kibbutz Shamir submitted by motist (Vote or comment on this photo)

Engraved dolmen near Kibbutz Shamir
Engraved dolmen near Kibbutz Shamir submitted by motist (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

Engraved dolmen near Kibbutz Shamir
Engraved dolmen near Kibbutz Shamir submitted by motist

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 9.6km N 353° Tel Dan Ancient Village or Settlement
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 13.3km NW 324° Tel Abel Beth Maacah* Ancient Village or Settlement
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 22.9km SW 219° Naburiya synagogue in Biriya Forest* Ancient Temple
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 26.8km WSW 240° Baram Synagogue* Ancient Temple
 28.3km S 187° Bethsaida* Ancient Village or Settlement
 29.6km SSE 165° The ancient city of Gamla* Ancient Village or Settlement
 29.6km SSE 164° Gamla Dolmen field* Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 31.0km SSE 156° Rujm el-Hiri* Stone Circle
 33.3km SW 222° Crescent-shaped monument near Shefer* Artificial Mound
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 34.4km NE 50° Tell Ramad Ancient Village or Settlement
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 35.4km SSW 209° Hukok* Ancient Temple
 36.3km WNW 283° Hiram's Tomb* Rock Cut Tomb
 36.9km SW 236° PEKI''IN old Synagogue * Ancient Temple
 37.5km S 182° Kursi National Park* Ancient Village or Settlement
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"Engraved dolmen near Kibbutz Shamir" | Login/Create an Account | 2 News and Comments
  
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Re: Engraved dolmen near Kibbutz Shamir by Andy B on Thursday, 11 April 2019
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More photos of the site here
http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/03/2017/huge-4000-year-old-dolmen-with-engravings-on-ceiling
[ Reply to This ]

Engraved dolmen near Kibbutz Shamir - Video by Andy B on Monday, 06 March 2017
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Archaeologists from Tel Hai Academic College, the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have recently discovered a mysterious dolmen (a large table-like stone structure) over 4,000 years old in a large field of dolmens, adjacent to Kibbutz Shamir in the Upper Galilee. What makes this dolmen so unique is its huge dimensions, the structure surrounding it and most importantly the artistic decorations engraved in its ceiling.

Video from Israel Antiquities Authority



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElQfsJF42WE
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