So just how old are the stones at Karahundj, or Zorats Kar?
And were the ancestors of the Armenians the first to create the
zodiac, the first to develop astronomy?
Further
testing and analysis is required—carbon dating would help, as
would additional research by astronomers. At least the
site is 3rd millennium BC, and possibly it is 5th millennium
BC. No matter how old the site is, it is older than the
henges in Europe, as is the observatory at Metsamor. They
are unique—unlike any other henge found.
Remarkably
there are two ancient astronomical monuments in Armenia.
And there are zodiac signs inscribed on the face of mountains
in Armenia as old as any found in the Near East, perhaps older.
"We
like to think we are an old country because we were the first
Christian state," Herouni concludes. "But here are monuments
thousands of years older than Christianity—these are the first
signs of religion itself. And yet who looks at them?"
The monuments
at Metsamor and Sissian remind us of the first steps to civilization,
and they remind us of something else. "After all, if you
believe in the Bible, God made the heavens, and then he made
the earth."
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