Weighing in at over 40,000 tons, the enigmatic concentric circles known as the “Wheel of Spirits” is made of thousands of basalt rocks that are some 5,000 year old. 
• “We have bits of information, but not the whole picture,” admits an Israeli antiquities expert.

Driving past it, one of the most mysterious structures in the Middle East is easy to miss. The prehistoric stone monument went unnoticed for centuries in a bare expanse of field on the Golan Heights.

Gilgal Refaim, Israel’s “Stonehenge”: Scholars generally agree that construction started as early as 3,500 BCE – Photo: Wikimedia Commons

After Israel captured the territory from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War, archaeologists studying an aerial survey spotted a pattern of stone circles not visible from the ground. Subsequent excavations revealed it was one of the oldest and largest structures in the region.

Known as Rujm el-Hiri in Arabic, meaning the “stone heap of the wild cat,” the complex has five concentric circles, the largest more than 152 meters (500 feet) wide, with a massive burial chamber in the middle. Its Hebrew name is Gilgal Refaim, “Wheel of Spirits” or “Wheel of Giants,” referring to an ancient race of giants in the Bible known as the Rephaites.

It is up to 5,000 years old, according to most estimates, making it a contemporary of England’s Stonehenge. Unlike the more famous monument, which is built with about 100 huge stones topped by lintels, the Golan structure is made of piles of thousands of smaller basalt rocks that together weigh over 40,000 tons.

“It’s an enigmatic site. We have bits of information, but not the whole picture,” said Uri Berger, an expert on megalithic tombs with the Israel Antiquities Authority.

“Scientists come and are amazed by the site and think up their own theories.”

No one knows who built it, he said. Some think it might have been a nomadic civilization that settled the area, but it would have required a tremendous support network that itinerants might not have had.

There could be an astrological significance. On the shortest and longest days of the year, the June and December solstices, the sunrise lines up with openings in the rocks, he said.

From the ground inside the complex, it looks like a labyrinth of crumbling stone walls overgrown with weeds. From on top of the 5-meter-high (16-foot) burial mound, it is possible to make out a circular pattern. Only from the air does the impressive shape of a massive bull’s-eye clearly emerge.

Shards of pottery and flint tools were found in various excavations and help date the site, Berger said. Scholars generally agree that construction started as early as 3,500 BCE and other parts may have been added over the next 2,000 years.

The complex is in an area used for training by the Israel Defense Forces, but visitors can explore the undisturbed walls and crawl into the 20-foot-long burial chamber on weekends and holidays.

View original Israel Hayom publication at:
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=29619