In addition, he recognizes the need for a high observation point that will enable visitors to enjoy an aerial view of the site. The development he proposes is minimal: simply preparing a paved road to the site, which would make it accessible without special vehicles. The national park Levy wants to introduce would cover a large area of some 5,000 dunams. вЂњWhere will the irrigation water for these areas come from?вЂќ he asks in concern. Another environmental problem is the preparation of 3,500 dunams (865 acres) near Rujm for agricultural use. He quotes studies pointing to certain death for at least five vultures a year if the turbines are installed, threatening the near-extinction of the species in the region. Such a farm would totally change the open space surrounding Rujm.Д«ut Levy is even more disturbed by another problem the turbines will cause: endangering the lives of the few vultures that remain in the Golan, and at the nearby Gamla site in particular. The present plan includes the construction of 42 giant wind turbines, each 150 meters high. The most urgent problem, he says, is the plan to build a wind farm at Tel Fares, some 5 kilometers to the northeast. Levy says the preservation of this large open space in the heart of the Golan is of huge importance, because the pressures on the environment are multiplying and intensifying. He believes the place should be declared a national park. I was accompanied on my visit to Rujm el-Hiri by Sharon Levy, whose remit at the Israel Nature and Parks Authority covers the Golan Heights. Views on what the site was built for are also split, though scholars agree that at some point in the past it served as a ritual site for some form of tribal or social gatherings. ScholarsвЂ™ estimates for the site cover a large time span вЂ“ from 4,000 years (about the age of the Egyptian pyramids and Stonehenge) to 6,000 years ago. The tempting comparison to Stonehenge in Wiltshire, southern England, relies on the planning and astronomical circular structure of the site, as well as its estimated age. Last week, too, many of them gazed optimistically upward and then continued to graze in the pasture. We can discount the occasionally cited view that the place was built by aliens, who arrived from the far end of the galaxy and landed among the cow droppings of the Golan вЂ“ although the cows probably believe that version. I canвЂ™t confirm that because I donвЂ™t understand anything about unique energies, but every time IвЂ™ve been there IвЂ™ve felt happy. None of this has prevented many from claiming that the site вЂ“ like many other stone circles worldwide вЂ“ has вЂњunique energies.вЂќ This disappoints those who believe the site is a ritual star observatory, or an agricultural calendar shrine. The sun wonвЂ™t rise in the center of this gate, but next to it. We must also note that there is no similar phenomenon at the southeastern opening on the shortest day of the year, December 21.

It is true, but the opening is very wide so thereвЂ™s a sense of frustration: The sun also rises there on the previous day and the following days as well. I have tried it several times to test its validity. If you stand in the center of the site at sunrise on the longest day of the year (June 21), you see the sun rising in the center of the northeastern opening.

There are two openings in the outer circle вЂ“ one facing northeast, the other southeast. The circles of stones are connected to additional walls. The interior circles are 80 and 110 meters in diameter. The diameter of the outer circle is 150 meters, and its shape is perfect. The data for Rujm el-Hiri are incredible: Five circles of basalt stones, built to a height of about 3 meters, which surround a central structure about 5 meters in height.

Rogem hiri