[1] It is located in the Golan Heights some 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) east of the coast of the Sea of Galilee, in the middle of a large plateau covered with hundreds of dolmens, single chamber tombs of stone.

[1][2] Made up of more than 42,000 basalt rocks arranged in concentric circles, Rujm al-Hiri has a mound 15 feet (4.6 m) tall at its center.

The establishment of the site, and other nearby ancient settlements, is dated by archaeologists to the Early Bronze Age II period (3000–2700 BCE).

rujum; Hebrew: rogem) can also refer to a tumulus, a heap of stones underneath which human burial space was located.

[7][8] The site's size and location, on a wide plateau which is also scattered with hundreds of dolmens, means that an aerial perspective is necessary to see the complete layout.

[16] By disproving any alignment of the structure with important astronomical phenomena such as sun solstices and equinoxes at the time of its construction, this study excludes previous interpretations based on such hypotheses.

Archaeologist Rami Arav suggests the site was used like the excarnation structures or dakhmas of the Zoroastrians, in which dead persons were laid out for birds to remove the flesh from their bones.

[8] Before the publication of the 2024 study, which refuted any astronomical use of the site (see introduction of this section),[16] several interpretations of Rujm el-Hiri's purpose were based on a presumed alignment of the structure with the sun solstice and equinox.

Until the 2024 study, it was thought that in the year 3000 BCE, on the longest day, the first rays of the sun shone through the opening in the north-east gate, which is 20 by 29 meters.

According to an older interpretation presented by Anthony Aveni and Yonatan Mizrachi, the entrance to the center opens on sunrise of the summer solstice.

Researchers found the site was built with dimensions and scales common for other period structures, and partly based on the stars' positions.

[19] New Age movements advocating a return to nature gather at the site on the June solstice and on the equinoxes to view the first rays of the sun shine through the rocks.