Known as “desert kites,” they are human-made megatraps that date back at least 8,000 years. These structures are so gigantic that it is impossible to see them with the naked eye in the deserts of Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The only way to see them is from the air.
Archaeologists from the University of Lyon, however, found another way to capture these imposing stone constructions. It was thanks to the exceptional discovery of the oldest known scale architectural plans, as explained in an article published in the PLOS ONE magazine.
“It is remarkable the extreme precision of these engravings, which represent gigantic Neolithic stone structures, whose complete design is impossible to capture without seeing it from the air or without being its architect. They reveal a very precise domain of space perception that until now has never been observed in such an early context,†the researchers write.
Desert kites were first seen from airplanes in the 1920s. They are sophisticated archaeological structures made up of walls up to five kilometers long that converge in an enclosure fringed by moats. Its function was to catch animals.
The team led by archaeologist Rémy Crassard has discovered two engravings depicting comets. One is in Jordan, in the Jibal al-Khasabiyeh area, which has eight kites. Nearby there appeared a stone with a representation of stars and lines 80 centimeters long and 32 wide that was carved with tools about 7,000 years ago.
The other, located at Zebel az-Zilliyat in Saudi Arabia, has two pairs of comets visible 3.5 kilometers away. A huge engraving measuring 382 centimeters long and 235 centimeters wide was excavated here. According to experts, the representation, which is about 8,000 years old, was pecked rather than carved, possibly with hand picks.
The builders would have needed schematics like these, the researchers say, since the entire design is impossible to grasp without seeing it from the air. “Until now, the evidence of plans for large structures has been seen in rough representations, but these designs are extremely accurate,” they say.
Although human constructions have modified natural spaces for millennia, few plans or maps date from before the period of the literate civilizations of Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, say the study authors. “The ability to transpose a large space onto a small two-dimensional surface represents a milestone in intelligent behavior,” they conclude.
Desert kites, which can be as long as two football fields together, are found mainly in the Middle East and Central Asia and functioned as pens or traps for animals. Hunters herded animals such as gazelles into these mega-structures through a long, narrow passage, making them easier to kill.
Crassard and his team compared the rock patterns to dozens of planes of known comets. Thus they found that the Jordanian engraving was similar to a megastructure located 2.3 kilometers away, while that of Saudi Arabia was similar to a kite 16.3 kilometers away.