The most fascinating historical astronomical building is Karahunge (the “Armenian Stonehenge”, the name derives from kar “stone” and may mean “singing stones”; and the other famous name is Zorats Kar). It is a megalithic assemblage, 200 km from Yerevan, and 3 km from town Sisian; at an altitude of 1,770 m. The northern latitude is 39. 34’, and eastern longitude is 46. 01’. It is an assemblage of many stones put in a circle and a few arms starting from it.
Many other such buildings, Karahunge was thought to be a religious assemblage. However, only in the middle of 1980 th, Karahunge was first interpreted as an archaeoastronomical monument and was studied by Prof. E.S. Parsamian (1999) and Prof. P.M. Herouni (1998). Estimations give from 7700 to 4000 years for the age of Karahunge.
There are 222 stones with a total extent exceeding 250 meters, including 84 with holes (with 4-5 cm diameters). Dozens of astronomical stone instruments with an accuracy of 30 arcsec may be found. 40 stones form the central ellipse with 45x36 m sizes, having a ruined stone-cluster in the center. There is an 8m wide 8-stone road to N-E. Some stones were used to find the directions to definite stars. By some estimations (observations of definite stars), the observatory was used during 7700-2200 B.C., for about 5500 years. The monument is unique of its kind at least in the Trans-Caucasian region and could be even the oldest known observatory in the world.
