Nabata Playa

Archaeologists believed the people of Nabata Playa were likely the oldest civilization that arose in Egypt thousands of years ago. The famous area is situated in Egypt and was discovered while there was a major dam project was being planned near the Nile river. While the construction of the dam required removing temples and statues various archeologists took the opportunity to find different statues and places.

In the year 1973 a nomadic guide discovered large, stone megaliths while crossing the Sahara and took the archaeologists to the site. 

The archeologist discovered stones that were aligned in a different way. Taking the help of an astronomer who was himself not able to understand it first, later she discovered that the stones were a part of an alignment that radiated out from a major burial mound. The astronomer discovered that the stones aligned to Arcturus, Sirius, and Alpha Centauri and there were stones that corresponded to the constellation Orion.

This site was discovered as one of the oldest astronomical site that has been discovered and archaeologist kept unraveling the mystery of the ancient people of Nabata Playa who used their summer homes to observe the stars.

It was noticed that The people of Nabata Playa would travel across the often-featureless Sahara from seasonal lake to seasonal lake, bringing their livestock along to graze and drink. The Nabata Playa people used the stars to travel across the desert to locate water and and Nabata Playa was one such place which had water four months of the year. Practically speaking, the megaliths would have also helped the people of Nabta Playa time the rainy season, which only became more important as the society developed over thousands of years. The summer solstice would have coincided with the arrival of the annual monsoons. So tracking the Sun’s location could have tipped them off to the coming wet season.

Of all different old sites that are being discovered Nabata Playa is a site which was famous for its astronomical discoveries of the earlier times.

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