Rujum el Hiri

Rujm el-Hiri is an ancient megalithic monument consisting of concentric circles of stone with a tumulus at center. It is located in the Israeli-occupied portion of the Golan Heights, some 16 kilometres east of the coast of the Sea of Galilee, in the middle of a large plateau covered with hundreds of dolmens.Made up of more than 42,000 basalt rocks arranged in concentric circles, it has a mound 15 feet tall at its center. Some circles are complete, others incomplete. The outermost wall is 520 feet in diameter and 8 feet high. The establishment of the site, and other nearby ancient settlements, is dated by archaeologists to the Early Bronze Age II period.Since excavations have yielded very few material remains, Israeli archeologists theorize that the site was not a defensive position or a residential quarter but most likely a ritual center featuring ritual activity to placate the gods, or possibly linked to the cult of the dead.