JERUSALEM, ISRAEL—Ido Wachtel of Hebrew University says that the giant crescent-shaped structure located eight miles northwest of the Sea of Galilee isn’t a city wall, as had been previously thought, but a lone monument. Instead, he suggests that the monument may be linked to the ancient town known as Bet Yerah, which is located about 18 miles or a day’s walk away. That is too far for the wall to have served as an effective fortification, but perhaps the monument served another purpose. “The proposed interpretation for the site is that it constituted a prominent landmark in its natural landscape, serving to mark possession and to assert authority and rights over natural resources by a local rural or pastoral population,” Wachtel explained to Live Science. The 5,000-year-old structure is approximately 492 feet long, and survives to a height of 23 feet. Two other megalithic structures in the area may also be linked to Bet Yerah. One has been found at the bottom of the Sea of Galilee; the other, located to the east of the Sea of Galilee, consists of four circles with a cairn at the center. To read about the excavation of an enormous double mound in Israel's Upper Galilee region, see ARCHAEOLOGY's feature "Excavating Tel Kedesh."
