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<< Our Photo Pages >> Rujm el-Hiri - Stone Circle in Syria

Submitted by coldrum on Saturday, 05 November 2011  Page Views: 9383

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Rujm el-Hiri Alternative Name: Rogem Hiri, Rujm al-Hiri, Gilgal Refa'im, Wheel of Giants. Rujm el Hiri
Country: Syria
NOTE: This site is 2.19 km away from the location you searched for.

Type: Stone Circle
Nearest Town: Golan Heights area
Latitude: 32.908669N  Longitude: 35.800976E
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
5 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
no data 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.
4 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
4

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Rujm el-Hiri
Rujm el-Hiri submitted by Creative Commons : Gilgal Refā'īm is an ancient megalithic monument in the Golan Heights Creative Commons image by Hebrew Wikipedia user אסף.צn (Vote or comment on this photo)
A 520-foot diameter circle of basalt stones, encompassing four smaller, concentric circles of stacked stone walls that become progressively narrower in width. The walls of the circles are connected perpendicularly by variously placed smaller stone walls.

Altogether, the site boasts as much as 37,500 metric tons of partially worked stone, with the walls standing up to 6.6 feet in height, with the outer wall as high as 8 feet. In the center of this concentric structure lies the central tumulus or cairn (interpreted as a tomb) built of smaller stones.

At the core of the tumulus is a buried dolmen, or burial monument, consisting of two 5-foot-tall standing stones that support a large horizontal stone. The dolmen overlies a chamber, connected to a 10-foot-long access corridor. No human remains were found within the tomb.

Note: New theory suggests the giant circular site of Rujm el-Hiri was used for excarnation and other funerary purposes
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Rujm el-Hiri
Rujm el-Hiri submitted by Creative Commons : View of the burial chamber Creative Commons image by Ani Nimi (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

Rujm el-Hiri
Rujm el-Hiri submitted by Creative Commons : Rujm el-Hiri as seem from the ground Creative Commons image by Yuri Tsoglin (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

Rujm el-Hiri
Rujm el-Hiri submitted by Creative Commons : View of the entrance to the burial chamber Creative Commons image by Hebrew Wikipedia user Ani Nimi (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 2.5km S 175° Dolmen field near Natur on the Golan Heights* Barrow Cemetery
 4.8km W 267° Gamla Dolmen field* Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 5.1km W 266° The ancient city of Gamla* Ancient Village or Settlement
 14.8km NNE 23° Dubbah Breika Ancient Village or Settlement
 16.0km W 271° Bethsaida* Ancient Village or Settlement
 16.8km WSW 237° Kursi National Park* Ancient Village or Settlement
 18.9km SW 223° Wadi Ein Gev Ancient Village or Settlement
 18.9km SW 223° NEG II Prehistoric Village* Ancient Village or Settlement
 19.5km SW 223° Sussita* Ancient Village or Settlement
 24.8km WNW 299° Tel Hatzor* Artificial Mound
 28.2km WSW 254° Dalmanutha* Ancient Village or Settlement
 28.2km SW 236° Hammat Tiberias* Ancient Village or Settlement
 29.2km WNW 291° Naburiya synagogue in Biriya Forest* Ancient Temple
 29.4km SW 225° Sea of Galilee Cairn* Cairn
 30.1km W 265° Hukok* Ancient Temple
 30.3km SW 224° Tel Bet Yerah Artificial Mound
 30.3km SW 225° Ohalo II* Ancient Village or Settlement
 31.0km NNW 336° Engraved dolmen near Kibbutz Shamir* Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 31.3km SW 217° Sha'ar HaGolan* Ancient Village or Settlement
 34.2km NW 312° Tel Kadesh Naftali* Ancient Village or Settlement
 34.3km N 354° Dolmen field in Odem forest on The Golan Heights* Artificial Mound
 35.1km W 276° Crescent-shaped monument near Shefer* Artificial Mound
 38.3km S 180° Rasun (Jordan)* Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 39.0km S 174° Irbid* Ancient Village or Settlement
 39.1km WNW 293° Baram Synagogue* Ancient Temple
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"Rujm el-Hiri" | Login/Create an Account | 4 News and Comments
  
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Not Rock Solid by bat400 on Monday, 24 June 2013
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Submitted for the Summer Solstice, by Deborah Rubin Fields.


If you happen to be on Israel's Golan Heights today, June 21st, you might catch a few New Age followers gathered around Rogem Hiri, the so-called Israeli Stonehenge.

As you might infer, some believe the site was built to celebrate the summer solstice. If that were true, however, we'd be talking about a summer solstice that took place several thousand years ago. According to Yonaton Mizrachi who dug there: "if one were to stand at the center of the complex during the June solstice sunrise of 3000 B.C.E., the first gleam of sunrise would appear at the center of the northeast entryway in the outer wall." Today however, it's really impossible to witness this event, as over time the celestial bodies change position.

Also known by the Arabic name of Rujm el-Hiri (mound of the wild cat) or by the Hebrew name Gilgal Refaim (the giants' wheels) this is not a well-marked archeology site. Yet, ironically, it has undergone large-scale excavations since first noted in 1968. Not that all the work that has gone into this site has proven conclusive, but it has kept archaeologists puzzling for some 30 years or so.

Today's on-site archaeologists logically think that the key to Rogem Hiri lays in figuring out who supported such a massive construction process. Where did the builders stay and over what period of time did they assemble 125,000 cubic feet of stones, ranging in size from small field stones to massive megaliths weighing several tons

Whatever the true origins were, Rogem Hiri makes a fascinating story.





Fields is a features writer in Israel.
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Ancient Astronomy at Rujm el-Hiri by Andy B on Saturday, 05 November 2011
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Ancient Astronomy at Rujm el-Hiri, Star Watching in Ancient Israel
http://archaeology.about.com/od/archaeoastronomy/a/rujmelhiri.htm

Golan Heights (Biblical Bashan)
Hundreds of dolmens have been found in the Golan Heights. Used for burial in the basalt areas where grave digging is difficult, dolmens were used for burial during both the Early Bronze I and Intermediate Bronze periods. The dolmen was most likely intended as a burial chamber for the chief of a clan, or another member of the nomadic elite. A dolmen is constructed of two large vertical stone slabs capped by a horizontal stone, which can weigh up to 30 tons.
http://www.bibleplaces.com/golanheights.htm


Unlocking the mysteries of Rujm-El-Hiri
'Alternative' page looking at the 'energy' originating from the earth, as well as the spiritual aspects of this ancient location. With some good images of the site
http://www.geobiology.co.il/Articles/Mysteries_RUJM.asp
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Solving the Mystery of a Megalithic Monument in the Land of Giants by Andy B on Saturday, 05 November 2011
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Archaeologists may be coming closer to resolving the mystery behind the puzzling megalithic concentric ring and tomb complex often called the "Stonehenge of the Levant". [but not by us, oh no - Meg P Ed]

It stands upon a land dotted with ancient dolmens or tombs that recall a distant time before the great urban centers of civilization arose in Mesopotamia and Egypt. According to legend, it was a land of ancient giants. Like Stonehenge [Aaaaargh - MegP Ed], its stone construction is concentric. At its center, however, is a tumulus of stone 65 feet in diameter and 15 feet tall. Long a mystery, scientists and scholars have puzzled and theorized about the meaning and identity of the site. Today, however, some investigations by archaeologists may be coming closer to the truth behind the enigmatic stone structure.

In an article published in the November/December, 2011 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, Dr. Rami Arav, long-time co-director of the Bethsaida excavations northeast of the coast of the Sea of Galilee and Professor of Religion and Philosophy at the University of Nebraska, Omaha, has proposed that the site was built for both funerary purposes and as a means for "excarnation", the removal of flesh from the bones of the deceased for placement in ossuaries, or bone boxes, by the ancient Chalcolithic inhabitants of the area.

Read more at Popular Archaeology
http://popular-archaeology.com/issue/september-2011/article/solving-the-mystery-of-a-megalithic-monument-in-the-land-of-giants
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The Geometry and Astronomy of Rujm el-Hiri, A Aveni by Andy B on Saturday, 05 November 2011
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The Geometry and Astronomy of Rujm el-Hiri, a Megalithic Site in
File Format: PDF
by A Aveni - 1998

Research at Rujm el-Hiri, a Bronze Age megalithic monument in the southern Levant, provides a broad insight into two episodes in the prehistory of the Levant-the construction and usage of the Early Bronze Age (EBA) ceremonial complex, and the erection of a cairn at the center of the monument some 1500 years later. Excavations in 1988-1991 provide information on Rujm el-Hiri's geometry, alignment associations between the architecture of the complex and celestial bodies and events, physical elements in the landscape, and local ecology-related phenomena. We also examine the significance of timekeeping and its implications for the agricultural calendar and cosmological domains of the local cultures, Data drawn from archaeological, astronomical, ethnohistorical, and biblical sources reveal the sophistication of the 3rd millennium B.C. construction phase of the Rujm el-Hiri complex. Among the finds reported are the systematic use of a measuring unit to construct the site; the establishment of an accurate alignment system for both celestial and non-celestial elements in the landscape; the organization of an orientation calendar as a basis for economic activities; and the hints of a rich cosmology. Overall, our study of the Rujm el-Hiri megalithic phenomena reveals a level of cultural complexity not previously documented in the Levant of the 3rd millennium B.C.

The Geometry and Astronomy of Rujm el-Hiri (.pdf file)
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