Ancient site · Megalith
Nabta Playa
A seasonal lake basin in the Egyptian desert about 100 km west of Abu Simbel, visited by herders when the Sahara was wetter. They dug wells, built huts in rows, made early pottery and buried cattle under stone mounds.
A small ring of upright stones, the 'calendar circle', and lines of larger stones have been claimed as alignments to the summer solstice and to certain stars; some proposed alignments have been rejected by other researchers.
- Dates
- c. 7500–3500 BCE; stone circle 5th millennium BCE
- Still standing
- Yes
- Location
- 22.51° N, 30.73° E
How we know
The camps, cattle burials and stones are real and dated by radiocarbon, but whether the stone circle was really an astronomical calendar is debated.
Nearby sites
- Abu Simbel temples c. 1264–1244 BCE
- Kerma c. 2500–1500 BCE
- Hierakonpolis (Nekhen) c. 4000–2686 BCE (main period)
- Luxor Temple c. 1400 BCE to Roman times
- Karnak Temple Complex c. 1970 BCE to Roman times
- Abydos c. 4000 BCE – late Roman times