Carahunge (, also romanized as Karahunj and Qarahunj), also known as Zorats Karer (), Dik-Dik Karer (), Tsits Karer () and Karenish (), is a

prehistoric Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

archaeological site near the town of

Sisian Sisian ( ) is a town and the centre of the Sisian Municipality of the Syunik Province in southern Armenia. It is located on both banks of the Vorotan River, at an altitude of 1600 m above sea level, 6 km south of the Yerevan- Meghri highway, at ...

in the

Syunik Province Syunik (, ) is the southernmost province of Armenia. It is bordered by the Vayots Dzor Province to the north, Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic exclave to the west, Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran to the south. Its capital and larg ...

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

. It is also often referred to among international tourists as the "Armenian

Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric Megalith, megalithic structure on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, to ...

Location

The Carahunge site is at latitude 39° 34' longitude 46° 01' on a mountain plateau at an altitude of and occupies an area of about 7 hectares on the left side of the canyon of the River Dar, a tributary of the river Vorotan (at 2 km). It is located on a rocky promontory near

Etymology

Thirteenth-century Armenian historian

Stepanos Orbelian Stepanos Orbelian (, originally spelled ; – 1303) was a thirteenth-century Armenian historian and the metropolitan bishop of the province of Syunik. He is known for writing his well-researched ''History of the Province of Syunik''. Biogr ...

, in his book ''History of Syunic (I—XII centuries)'', mentions that in the Tsluk (Yevalakh) region of Armenia, near the town Syunic or Sisian, was a village called ''Carunge''. Its name means "stone treasure" or "foundation stones" in Armenian. The name Carahunge is interpreted as deriving from two Armenian words: (or ) (), meaning ''stone'', and or (), meaning ''sound.'' Thus the name ''Carahunge'' means "speaking stones". This interpretation is related to the fact that the stones make whistling sounds on a windy day, presumably because of multiple reach-through holes bored into the stones at different angles in prehistoric times. In 2004, the site was officially named the Karahunj (Carahunge) Observatory, by parliamentary decree (Government Decision No. 1095-n, July 29, 2004). Carahunge is also known in local lore as (), (), and (), meaning "vertical stones" in vernacular Armenian.

Stones

The Carahunge monument consists of the central circle, the north arm, the south arm, the north–east alley, the chord across the circle, and separated standing stones. The site is rich with stone settings, burial

cist In archeology, a cist (; also kist ; ultimately from ; cognate to ) or cist grave is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. In some ways, it is similar to the deeper shaft tomb. Examples occur ac ...

s and standing stones (

menhir A menhir (; from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large upright stone, emplaced in the ground by humans, typically dating from the European middle Br ...

s). In total, 223 stones have been identified. There are also many unnumbered stones and fragments. The stones are

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

(

andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...

), eroded by time and covered with moss and lichen of many colours. The heights of the stones above ground-level varies from 0.5 to 3 m, and their weights range up to 10 tons. About 80 (or around 1/3) of the stones feature a circular hole. Only 37 of those stones, with a total of 47 holes, are still standing. They have been of interest to Russian and Armenian archaeoastronomers, who have suggested that the standing stones could have been used for astronomical observation. Seventeen of the stones were associated with observations of sunrise or sunset at the solstices and equinoxes, and 14 with the lunar extremes. The inner surfaces of the holes bored into some of the stones are much better preserved than the outer surfaces. Since the holes are relatively unweathered, they may not be prehistoric in origin, so conjectures about their purpose must remain provisional.

Archaeological research

The astronomical significance of the megalithic structures at Zorats Karer was first explored by Armenian archaeologist Onik Khnkikyan in 1984. A year later, Armenian astrophysicist

Elma Parsamyan Elma Parsamian is a Soviet and Armenian astrophysicist and astronomer. She works at the Byurakan Observatory. She serves as the Principal Research Associate of the scientific group. Early life She was born in Yerevan, Armenia on December 23, 1 ...

hypothesised about the existence of an astronomical observatory at Zorats Karer (Carahunge), and analysed other megalithic sites at Metzamor and Angeghakot. An investigation by radiophysicist

Paris Herouni Paris Misaki Herouni (, December 17, 1933 – December 5, 2008) was a Soviet and Armenian physicist and engineer. He was a member of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences in the fields of Radiophysics, radio-physics, Radio-frequency engineeri ...

and his research team in 1994–2001 led them to the now disputed conclusion that Carahunge is the world's oldest astronomical observatory. In 1999, Herouni got in touch with British-born American astronomer and archaeo-astronomer

Gerald Hawkins Gerald Stanley Hawkins (20 April 1928– 26 May 2003) was a British-born American astronomer and author noted for his work in the field of archaeoastronomy. A professor and chair of the astronomy department at Boston University in the Un ...

, renowned for his analysis of

in which he proposed its purpose as an ancient astronomical observatory. In a letter to Herouni, Professor Hawkins confirmed his Armenian colleague’s similar conclusions about Zorats Karer, stating, in particular: “I admire the precise calculations you have made. I am most impressed with the careful work you have done, and hope that the result will ultimately get recorded in literature.” Zorats Karer was investigated in 2000 by archaeologists from the ,

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

, as part of a field survey of prehistoric sites in southern Armenia. They identified the site as a necropolis dating mainly from the Middle Bronze Age to the Iron Age, finding enormous stone tombs from those periods within the area. Team leader Stephan Kroll also concluded that the lines of stones were the remains of a city wall, possibly from the Hellenistic period, that had been constructed mostly of rubble and loam, and in which the upright stones had acted as reinforcements. Archaeoastronomer

Clive Ruggles Clive L. N. Ruggles (born 1952) is a British astronomer, archaeologist and academic. He is the author of academic and popular works on the subject. In 1999, he was appointed professor of archaeoastronomy at the School of Archaeology and Ancient His ...

wrote that "Inevitably there have been other claims—more speculative and less supportable—relating to the astronomical significance of the site. One is that it can be astronomically dated to the sixth millennium BCE and direct comparisons with Stonehenge, which few now believe was an observatory, are less than helpful." An overview of ancient astronomy in the Caucasus region briefly discussed Carahunge, citing a preliminary report of a recent survey as evidence that Carahunge indicated astronomical alignments to the Sun, Moon, and selected stars. The authors consider that Carahunge may have been a dual-purpose site: a burial place for a significant person and a place for astronomically related ritual. A critical assessment of the site found several problems with the archaeoastronomical interpretations of the site. The northeast avenue, which extends about 50 meters from the center, has been inconsistently associated with the summer

solstice A solstice is the time when the Sun reaches its most northerly or southerly sun path, excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, around 20–22 June and 20–22 December. In many countries ...

, the major northern lunistice, or the rising of Venus. Herouni had postulated that in order to use the holes in the megaliths for astronomical observations sufficiently precise to determine the date of the solstices, it would have been necessary to restrict the field of vision by inserting a narrow tube in the existing perforations. Without these modifications, for which there is no archaeological evidence, the claimed astronomical significance of the orientations of the holes vanishes. As a consequence, González-Garcia concluded that the archaeoastronomical claims for the site are untenable, although further investigations to determine the astronomical potential of Carahunge and similar sites are merited. About 15km west of Carahunge is located the

site of

Godedzor Godedzor is a prehistoric, prehistorical archaeological site located about 1.5 kilometres west of the village of Angeghakot in the Syunik Province of Armenia. The settlement of Nerkin Godedzor is in the Vorotan (river), Vorotan river gorge, at th ...

that goes back to about 4000 BC. This was an important centre for

obsidian Obsidian ( ) is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extrusive rock, extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock. Produced from felsic lava, obsidian is rich in the lighter element ...

trade in Syunik obsidian that had links with the sites located as far as

Lake Urmia Lake Urmia is an endorheic salt lake in Iran. The lake is located between the provinces of East Azerbaijan and West Azerbaijan in Iran, and west of the southern portion of the Caspian Sea. At its greatest extent, it was the largest lake in th ...

in Iran.Giulio Palumbi 2021
Early pastoralism and natural resource management: recent research at Godedzor.
in ''On salt, copper and gold.'' Catherine Marro, Thomas Stöllner, eds. pp.285-324

Museum

In the nearby city of Sisian is a small museum dedicated to findings in the area. These include palaeolithic petroglyphs found on mountain tops in the area, and grave artefacts from the Bronze Age burial site, which has more than 200 shaft graves.

Gallery

Zorats Karer aerial view.jpg Aerial view of Zorats Karer, June 2022 cropped.jpg Zorats Karer 2008, standing stones with hole.jpg Zorats karer22.JPG Zorats Karer 2008, part of the interior.jpg, Interior part Armenian Qarhunj01.jpg Zorats Karer Menhir.jpg Zorats Karer Complex3.jpg Zorats Karer Menhir4.jpg Zorats Karer Menhir5.jpg Zorats Karer Menhir6.jpg Zorats Karer 2008, one of the standing stones.jpg Karahunj (Zorats Karer)5.JPG

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * *

External links

Zorats Karer (Karahunj)

Carahunge
{{Authority control Archaeological sites in Armenia Megalithic monuments in Europe Buildings and structures in Syunik Province Tourist attractions in Syunik Province