Archaeologists make huge discovery at ‘Stonehenge of the East’ dating back 5,000 years

Scientists studying a 5,000-year-old monument in the Middle East have made a startling discovery about the structure.

Called Rujm el-Hiri, it is often referred to as the 'Stonehenge of the East' due to its similarities to the English monument.

Officially called 'megalith' structures, it is scientific speak for prehistoric constructions put together using large stone with many of them found across Europe in particular; some 35,000 exist on the continent alone.

Rujm el-Hiri is not found in Europe, though, with it located in the Golan Heights region of Syria.

Rujm el-Hiri from the sky (MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images)

What is Rujm el-Hiri?

Roughly 16 kilometres inland from the Sea of Galilee, it is made up of more than 42,000 rocks arranged in concentric circles.

At the middle of it all is a large mound of rocks that is 15 foot high at its tallest point, which is roughly 4.6 metres.

But to this day people aren't quite sure what the point of Rujm el-Hiri is. Or rather, was.

The name itself translates as 'stone heap of the wildcat', with a modern name for the site being Gilgal Refaʾim which translates as 'Wheel of Ghosts' or Wheel of Spirits'.

Made up of almost 40,000 tonnes of stone, it is estimated to have taken more than 25,000 combined working days to have put the megalith together.

Spooky theories surrounding Rujm el-Hiri

Having been first discovered in 1967 during an archaeological survey, it was only then excavated in 2007.

Experts have ruled out it being a burial site given that no human remains are on the site.

But some still theorise that astronomical connections are behind it, connected to ancient cultures observing the stars and planets while others think it could be linked to rituals and offerings to gods.

Rujm el-Hiri is in Syria, north of Israel (Olga Khabarova et al, Remote Sensing)

Rujm el-Hiri new findings

In a new study on the monument, published in the journal Remote Sensing, new satellite images of Rujm el-Hiri have been analysed by scientists from Tel Aviv University and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

The findings put doubt on links to astronomy and the stars.

Instead, it has been confirmed that the structure has physically moved over time.

Due to Earth's tectonic plates moving over time - we're talking eight to 15 millimetres every year for the last 150 million years - there has been significant alteration to the walls and entrances of the structure.

As a result, the site has moved counterclockwise and moved the entire monument by tens of metres.

It's moved over time (Olga Khabarova et al, Remote Sensing)

"The findings show that the entrances and radial walls during that historical period were entirely different, reopening the question of the site’s purpose," the research team says.

"This implies that the primary axes of Rujm el-Hiri have rotated over time along with the entire region, casting significant doubt on the popular theory that Rujm el-Hiri was an observatory."

The outer walls of Rujm el-Hiri were built between 5,000BC and 4,500BC.