These "U" shaped stones are sitting at the end of the "corral". The only place either of us have ever seen anything even remotely resembling these obviously hand-shaped rocks is near Noah's Ark, at the ancient house we believe was Noah's and his family's. All around the house are fences where we believe he tended the precious cargo of the ark - the animals. And just below the house is a "complex" with a lot of stonework, and a very unique hewn stone, very similar to the one in the photo at right next to the Mt. Sinai altar.

In 1990, when we visited the site of Noah's house and altar with Marv and Renetta Wilson, we saw another one of these "U" shaped stones just below the giant altar. It had recently been uncovered by some of the men from the village across the road as it apparently had been buried by dirt over the years. But what were these strange rocks?

Before I tell you what we believe they were, I want to mention something. Remember that after the flood, when the entire face of the earth was destroyed, God had given Noah permission to eat the meat of the clean animals. But He had made one very important stipulation:

GEN 9:4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

This meant that Noah, as well as all of God's people, were to drain the blood from the animal before it was eaten. We believe the unique "U" shaped hewn stone below Noah's house was part of the "complex" where the animals that were to be used for food were slaughtered. We have concluded that most probably their heads were placed in the "U" of the hewn stone and their throats then slit. There is one part of this process that I am loathe to mention but I must- their throats would have needed to be slit while the animal was still alive in order for the heart to continue to pump. Once dead, without the heart pumping, the animal would not bleed, at least not enough to completely drain its blood supply.

The "U" shaped hewn stone at Noah's house has a hole cut in the rock beneath it which extends through the rock downward. I prefer to believe that they knocked the animal unconscious, then placed its head within the "U" shape and slit its throat. The blood poured from (most likely) the jugular vein, down into the bowl-like hole cut in the rock slab beneath it, then down through the smaller hole in the "bowl" into the ground. Or alternately, perhaps they positioned the animal in the "U" shape and then slit its throat.

But this was concerning the animals that they were going to eat- what about the animals they sacrificed? Did they also "bleed" them? As I mentioned, we found a similar stone just below the altar behind Noah's house, high upon the mountain ridge. I cannot imagine that they would have prepared any animals to eat that far from the house, much less upon such a steep ascent. And prior to the giving of the "sacrificial system" of the Mosaic Law, there is no record that they ate the sacrifices, with the exception of the "Passover lamb" in Egypt. Therefore, because of the presence of this "U" shaped stone near the altar I can only conclude that they did indeed remove the blood from the sacrificial animals- at least, some of them.

Also, around Noah's altar are a number of "pens" composed of large rocks of a size that would have held 3 or 4 sheep or bullocks. And next to these "pens" are 2 extremely large boulders with chiseled holes in them, positioned in a manner that would allow an animal, such as a sheep or bullock, to be led upon the boulder. The top of these boulders contain a slanted flat area with grooves leading off to the sides. These also appear to be for the purpose of draining the blood from an animal. It also would have allowed it to be collected in a container if the early sacrifices consisted of the patriarch (who acted as the family "priest") sprinkling the blood or pouring it upon the ground by the altar as they later did.

In summary, the strange hewn rocks next to the altar at Sinai looked exactly like the 2 hewn stones at Noah's house when I glanced at the photo. When I enlarged the photo to be sure of what I thought I was seeing, I was even more convinced. Then, I read that at the time they offered sacrifices on Moses' altar just after God spoke the Ten Commandments, the blood WAS collected. The passage in Exodus states:

EXO 24:5 And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD. 6 And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7 And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient. 8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.

The "bleeding stones", as I will call them, at the Mt. Sinai altar are at the end of the "corral". After Ron and I carefully considered the situation, we concluded the following- but this is only our theory:

• 1- As the young men approached the altar with their animal to be offered, they laid it within the "bleeding stone", knocked it unconscious, then slit its throat where it bled to death. As the blood gushed out, it was collected and poured into the "basons" of verse 6, above.
• 2- The person making the offering then picked up the lifeless body of their offering and entered the "corral".
• 3- One at a time, they presented their sacrifice to Aaron and Moses who, depending upon whether it was a "peace offering" or a "burnt offering", administered the sacrifice on the altar.
• 4- After the person had presented their animal, they then turned and walked towards the other "doorway" along the corridor on the other side of the dividing wall.
• 5- He then left the altar complex.

One final note- it would be impossible for a man to carry a full grown bull or even a very large sheep. The lambs offered for sacrifice were to be "of the first year" (Exo 12:5, 29:38, Lev 9:3). The bullock was "young" (Exo 29:1, Lev 4:3, 4:14, 16:3). I mention this only in case some may not be familiar with the fact that they offered young animals which they could easily carry after they were killed.

When Ron first went to the mountain in 1984, just before he was arrested, he saw a pieces of white marble glistening in the sun. In 1985, when he returned as the guest of Samran Al Moteri, he saw that these were pieces of a "shrine" that had once sat near the altar. There were at least 10 pieces of broken, round columns almost 23 inches in diameter. They varied in height from 8 inches to 26 inches. In addition, there were a large number of rectangular marble stones 8 1/4 inches by 16 ½ inches, from 10 to 26 inches long. These pieces were found around the altar, while others lay scattered at a greater distance, and are not included in our count.

Ron found an intact marble section with Archaic Hebrew writing on it which he discreetly buried. He knew he wouldn't be allowed to remove it, and he feared if it was seen by the Saudis, they would destroy it. To our knowledge, this piece remains buried and it is doubtful if he will ever get to retrieve it. Ron believes this "shrine" was erected by King Solomon at the same time he erected the columns on each side of the Aqaba shore at the crossing site. The bedouins working with them said the marble "temple" (shrine) had been dismantled years earlier and the marble used in the construction of a mosque in Hagl (the town where Ron was imprisoned in 1984). They also mentioned something about "Suleyman" (the Turkish "Suleyman the Magnificent" of the 1500s), but Ron thinks they may have meant "Solomon".