The Place of the House of Flowers’ is set in a beautiful spot, on hills with eroded peaks. This dynamic and well protected city controlled a rich agricultural region. The city was an important centre for the study of the heavens, as astronomers gathered here to make the religious and civil calendars coincide.

The city disintegrated suddenly around 900, for unknown reasons: maybe it was the victim of internal power struggles, a great fire or an armed raid. It was subsequently abandoned.

To the north of the main square and two levels down, the observatory was built inside an artificial cave around 700 BC.