The mythical “Wheel of Ghosts” has turned 40 meters in the last 4,000 years. After all, it was never an observatory

The ancient “Wheel of Ghosts” has turned 40 meters since it was built more than 5,000 years ago. A new study considers that “we are back to square one” when it comes to why the “Stonehenge of the East” was built.

O Rujm el-Hiriin the Golan Heights, also known as the “Wheel of Ghosts” or “Stonehenge of the East”, functioned, thousands of years ago, as a astronomical observatory… or maybe not.

A study recently in Remote Sensingdenies the thesis that the “Wheel of Ghosts” was a gastronomic observatory and changes everything we knew about this iconic monument.

As researchers point out, “We’re back to square one”with regard to understanding its origins and reasons for this construction of more than 5,000 years.

As explained by , Rujm el-Hiri was discovered in 1968 and consists of a central cairn surrounded by several concentric circles made of basalt stones, connected through a series of radial walls.

With a circumference of approximately 500 meters and a diameter of 150 meters, the massive monument and its purpose have been the subject of intense debate for more than half a century.

A study published in 1998 showed that the axes of symmetry and entrances of Rujm el-Hiri were aligned with the directions of the solstices, equinoxes, Sirius and other celestial bodies as they appeared in the Bronze Age sky.

This led to the widespread belief that the ancient monument served as an astronomical observatory.

But…

To investigate this theory, the authors of a new study analyzed the tectonic movements of the area around the Sea of ​​Galilee over the last 150 million years. And the discovery was surprising.

According to the researchers, “the tectonic blocks of northern Israel moved continuously along an elliptical counterclockwise trajectory” at an average rate of 8 to 15 millimeters per year.

For these accounts, Rujm el-Hiri will be shot about 40 meters within the last 4,000 years, which means that its shafts, inlets and other features were originally built far from your current location.

“The integrated geophysical analysis of the region reveals that the Rujm el-Hiri site rotated counterclockwise and moved tens of meters from its original location,” write the authors of the study, cited by IFLScience.

“Therefore, it is unlikely that Rujm el-Hiri was an observatory”they concluded.

The reason why the structure was built therefore remains a mystery.