Meet Armenia’s Stonehenge: Predating the Pyramids of Egypt by three thousand years
Located in modern-day Armenia, in Karahunj also known as Zorats Karer or Armenia’s Stonehenge, we find a set of mysterious depictions which have caused controversial reactions ever since their discovery.
Carahunge or Karahunj is an ancient site believed to predate England’s Stonehenge by at least 3,500 years and the Pyramids of ancient Egypt by staggering 3,000 years. This ancient complex occupies over 7 hectares and offers its visitors a number of strange carvings created by early civilizations that inhabited the region thousands of years ago.
Many of its visitors agree that this impressive ancient site is very similar to Stonehenge. The ancient site’s main similarity lies in the curious circular patterns of the stones. Just like Armenia’s counterpart in England; the true purpose remains a profound mystery for archaeologists who are unable to solve the mystery of the stones.
Theories trying to explain what this ancient site was thousands of years ago are abundant, but the most accepted ones are that his ancient complex was either an astronomical or ceremonial complex. However, researchers cannot possibly know due to a lack of information and historic records.
Armenia’s ‘ Stonehenge’ is much older than England’s version and consists of similar roughly hewn boulders positioned in two elliptical overlapping circles.
Interestingly, many of the boulders found at Karahunj have strange holes carved through them, and some researchers have even drawn similarities to the megalithic boulders discovered in ancient Egypt and their curious holes. These existence of the mysterious holes has led researchers to believe that they were used thousands of years ago for astronomical observations.
However, if we look how the name Karahunj or Carahunge is interpreted we will understand that it derives from two Armenian words: car (or kar) which translated means stone and hunge or hoonch which means sound. Therefore, we understand that the name of the ancient site is translated to ‘Speaking Stones’. This is related to the fact that the stones tend to ‘whistle’ on windy days due to the number of holes ‘drilled’ under different angles in prehistoric times.
The site was officially named as the Karahunj (Carahunge) Observatory, by Parliamentary decree in 2004.
Numerous expeditions have studied this ancient site. The most extensive research was carried out by Paris Herouni and by Elma Parsamyan of the Biurakan Observatory. Herouni concluded that this ancient site was: “a temple with a large and developed observatory, and also a university.”
Herouni proposed a number of interesting hypotheses and stated that some of the stones at the site mimic the biggest star of the constellation of Cygnus –Deneb.
Interestingly, some have even drawn similarities between the Karahunj (Carahunge) Observatory and Gobekli Tepe in modern Turkey. V. Vahradyan suggests that Gobekli Tepe shows the map of the night sky and the constellation of Cygnus, which in the Karahunj Observatory represents the same constellation, mirroring the site.
But as if the age of the ancient observatory, its purpose and origin weren’t mysterious enough there are more incredible details which make this ancient site even more interesting. Among the numerous boulders found on the site, there are some with curious carvings on their surface. Some of the humanoid beings represented at some of the stones are eerily similar to ‘modern-day’ representations of Grey Aliens. Some of the humanoid figures carved at Karahunj have elongated heads, and almond shaped eyes and are depicted holding what appears to be some sort of artifact with wheels.
Here are some images of this incredible ancient site:
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons