Archaeologists in Israel have identified a lunar-crescent-shaped stone monument that dates back around 5,000 years.

The structure, which was found 8 miles northwest of the Sea of Galilee, is about 492 feet long and its volume is almost 500,000 cubic feet, according to Live Science.

Pottery excavated at the structure shows the monument dates to around 3050 B.C. and 2650 B.C., meaning it is most likely order than the pyramids of Egypt.

It was also most likely built before most of Stonehenge was constructed.

Previously, archaeologists believed the structure was part of a city wall, but recent work, carried out by Ido Wachtel from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, showed there is not city beside it and that the structure is a standing monument.

"The proposed interpretation for the site is that it constituted a prominent landmark in its natural landscape, serving to mark possession and to assert authority and rights over natural resources by a local rural or pastoral population," Wachtel wrote in the summary of a presentation given recently at the International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, according to Live Science.

The structure's crescent shape stood out in the landscape, and might have a symbolic importance, since the lunar crescent is a symbol of ancient Mesopotamian moon god named Sin, Wachtel said.

Researchers found the remnants of an ancient town called Bet Yerah, or "House of the Moon God" not too far away from the crescent monument. Residents of Bet Yerah may have constructed the monument as a way to mark the borders of their settlement, Wachtel said.

For a team of 200 ancient workers, construction of the monument probably would have taken 35,000 working days to make.

"We need to remember that people were (obligated) most of the year to agriculture," Wachtel said.

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