Carahunge

Zorats Karer, marketed as Carahunge, is a scatter of some two hundred basalt stones on a plateau near Sisian, around eighty of which have smooth holes bored near the top. Burial cists and a mound sit among them. The site is genuinely old, from the Bronze Age onwards, but the claim that the holes were sighting devices for an observatory older than Stonehenge comes from one Armenian researcher and has not been accepted by archaeoastronomers who have examined it. The stones are worth seeing on their own terms.

What to look for

• The standing stones - around two hundred basalt uprights across an open plateau.
• The bored holes - smooth perforations near the top of about eighty of them.
• The burial cists - stone graves and a mound within the arrangement.
• The plateau - open high grassland with mountains around.

When to go

May to October is the season; the plateau is exposed and snow-covered in winter. Early morning and late afternoon give the best light and the longest shadows. Wind is constant up here.

Before you go

The observatory claim is contested and the mainstream archaeological view is that the holes' purpose is unknown; guides often present the astronomy as settled. There is no shade and no facilities. The name Carahunge was coined recently as a marketing echo of Stonehenge.

Nearby

Sisian is three kilometres south, and Ughtasar is high in the mountains above.

Key facts