A wheel of giants
From the ground, Rujm el-Hiri is an unassuming series of crumbling basalt walls. From the air, its true form emerges: a massive pattern of concentric circles with a central mound, earning it the Hebrew name Gilgal Refaim, or "Wheel of Giants." The Arabic name, Rujm el-Hiri, translates to "stone heap of the wild cat." This megalithic structure contains more than 42,000 tons of basalt rock. Archaeologists date its construction to the Early Bronze Age, approximately 3000–2700 BCE, making it a contemporary of England's Stonehenge.
The outermost wall of the complex measures about 160 meters (520 feet) in diameter and stands up to 2.4 meters (8 feet) high. Inside are four main concentric rings, some complete and others not, connected by smaller, irregular stone walls. The entire structure is located on a plateau scattered with hundreds of other ancient stone tombs called dolmens. Excavations have found very few artifacts, suggesting the site was not a settlement but a place for ritual activity.
Celestial observatory or ritual center?
In the center of the stone rings is a central cairn, a mound of rocks measuring about 20 meters (65 feet) in diameter and 4.6 meters (15 feet) high. This cairn contains a burial chamber, which was added roughly 1,500 years after the main rings were built. The tomb was looted in antiquity, leaving no human remains or artifacts to provide clues about who was buried there.
For many years, the most prominent theory was that Rujm el-Hiri was an astronomical observatory. An entrance on the northeast side seems to align with the sunrise on the summer solstice. Recent research challenges this idea. Studies published in 2024 show that tectonic movements have shifted and rotated the entire structure over millennia. This geological displacement means that any current alignments do not reflect the sky as it appeared to the monument's builders 5,000 years ago, reopening the question of the site's original purpose. While its function remains debated—whether a calendar, a place for sky-burials, or a ceremonial center—the monument's scale and precision point to an organized society.