Megalithic Structure Found Beneath Sea Of Galilee

Megalithic Structure Found Beneath Sea Of Galilee

Sonar studies and subsequent dives have located a submerged structure, really a pile of rocks, though obviously not a natural pile in the sea of Galilee, in Israel.

From an Article on Live Science.Com

Mysterious Stone Structure Discovered Beneath Sea of Galilee
Owen Jarus, LiveScience Contributor
Date: 09 April 2013

A giant “monumental” stone structure discovered beneath the waters of the Sea of Galilee in Israel has archaeologists puzzled as to its purpose and even how long ago it was built.
The mysterious structure is cone shaped, made of “unhewn basalt cobbles and boulders,” and weighs an estimated 60,000 tons the researchers said. That makes it heavier than most modern-day warships.

Rising nearly 32 feet (10 meters) high, it has a diameter of about 230 feet (70 meters). To put that in perspective, the outer stone circle of Stonehenge has a diameter just half that with its tallest stones not reaching that height.

Researcher Yitzhak Paz, of the Israel Antiquities Authority and Ben-Gurion University, believes it could date back more than 4,000 years. “The more logical possibility is that it belongs to the third millennium B.C., because there are other megalithic phenomena [from that time] that are found close by,” Paz told LiveScience in an interview, noting that those sites are associated with fortified settlements.

The researchers list several examples of megalithic structures found close to the Sea of Galilee that are more than 4,000 years-old. One example is the monumental site of Khirbet Beteiha, located some 19 miles (30 kilometers) north-east of the submerged stone structure, the researchers write. It “comprises three concentric stone circles, the largest of which is 56 m [184 feet] in diameter.”

The research team says that, like the leaders of Bet Yerah, whoever built the newly discovered Sea of Galilee structure needed sophisticated organization and planning skills to construct it. The “effort invested in such an enterprise is indicative of a complex, well-organized society, with planning skills and economic ability,” they write in their journal paper.

Paz added that “in order to build such a structure a lot of working hours were required” in an organized community effort.

The Sea of Galilee is actually a lake fed by the river Jordan, it has also been called  Lake Tiberias or in Arabic Buḥayrat Ṭabarīyā and in the Old Testament it was referred to as the Sea of Kinneret. Jewish historian Flavius Josephus wrote of nine cities on the shores of the lake in ancient times, but of these only Tiberias, on the western shore has survived. Experts believe the structure is a burial mound. Whether it was constructed on dry land and covered by rising waters of the lake, or built as a submerged structure is snot yet known for certain.

[email protected]

Don’t forget to visit Lindsay, say Hi and Like Us on our Facebook Page

1 comment
Henry Paterson
SUBSCRIBER
PROFILE

Sponsors