The Sahara Desert holds a mystery of megaliths 1,000 years older than Stonehenge. Called Nabta Playa, the site includes a ring of standing stones, five rows of upright and fallen stone slabs, and a possible tomb. The stones weigh several tons, some as high as 2.7 meters. An unknown group of Stone Age people built the complex 6,000 to 6,500 years ago, and the stones represent the oldest astronomical alignment of megaliths ever discovered.
Satellite photographs confirm that one of the rows aligns east-west, and certain stone slabs within the circle align north-south. Two additional rows originate from the same megalith, but one runs northeast and the other southeast. The stones mark the summer solstice and possibly the rainy season. Nabta Playa was built on the shore of a lake and is partially submerged during the summer and fall. Livestock burials and everyday items have been found at the site, but no human remains.
Nabta Playa challenges accepted beliefs among Egyptologists. The builders of that era were more advanced than previously believed and may even have been one of the cultures that inspired the Egyptian dynasty of kings.