Nabta Playa is the ancient ceremonial site in Egypt’s Western Desert that contains a stone calendar circle.
The site lies in the Nubian Desert, west of the Nile. Archaeologists found megaliths arranged in patterns that may have helped mark the summer solstice, along with evidence of seasonal occupation, livestock herding and ritual activity.
Nabta Playa was used during the prehistoric African Humid Period, when today’s desert was considerably wetter and supported grasslands, lakes and mobile pastoral communities. The stone arrangements are older than many famous monuments of pharaonic Egypt.
Researchers debate the exact purpose of the alignments, so it is safest to describe the circle as a possible ceremonial or astronomical marker rather than a proven observatory.