ISRAEL TOURISM
most mysterious places in Israel 10 The
Who arranged stones in huge circles in the Golan Heights? What was the pyramid of Madras for? Let’s delve into the most intriguing sites in Israel
Atlit Fortress
A round the world raise questions about how they were formed and for what purpose they were used. Although Israel is small, and most of its corners are well there are quite a few mysterious sites that known, one can still find mysterious and intriguing sites: stone circles in the Golan Heights, a Crusader fortress in the center of the country that has been closed for decades, round rocks scattered in the desert, and ancient rock paintings. Here is a look at some of the special and mysterious sites in Israel, from north to south:
1 Dolmens in the Golan Heights Megalithic buildings built of huge stones have excited the imagination of researchers since time immemorial. Who founded them? How did they place the heavy stones on top of each other without any engineering equipment? And how do the stones remain arranged in this structure for so many years, without cement? There are also such structures in Israel: hundreds of dolmens (stone tables) are scattered throughout the Golan Heights. These are megalithic
2 Gilgal Refaim, Golan Heights The most famous stone circle site in Israel, which received publicity worldwide, proves that you don’t have to travel to Britain to see stone circles — just go to the Golan Heights. In the heart of a vast plain, near the Yonatan settlement, are scattered no less than 42,000 basalt stones arranged in circles. In the center of the circles is a mound of stones about five meters high. The Arabs named the place Rujm el-Hiri, “the pile of stones of the wild cat.” In Hebrew it is called Gilgal Refaim, “ghost wheel.”
structures, built in the structure of a table – two vertical stones on which the head stone is balanced. The dolmens, many of which originally served as burial chambers, were typical of the Neolithic period (10000- 2200 BCE), but were also used in the Bronze Age
(3300-1200 BCE). A particularly high
concentration of dolmens is found in a field near the ancient city of Gamla. It is hard not to stand in awe of the tremendous power inherent in them and wonder how they were created and for what purpose.
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