Neolithic Engravings are Oldest Architectural Plans of Humanmade Mega-Structures

Two prehistoric engravings in Jordan and Saudi Arabia depict ‘desert kites’ — humanmade mega-traps that are dated to at least 9,000 years ago for the oldest. The discovery provides some answers to complex questions of the representation and conception of space, faced by human groups since ancient times.

Desert kitesor simply kites, are gigantic archaeological structures made of stone alignments and walls.

Kites are composed of driving lines — from hundreds of meters to 5 km long — converging towards an enclosure, which is surrounded by up to 4-m-deep pits (called ‘pit-traps’, from 1 to more than 20 in number per enclosure) where animals were trapped by hunters.

They represent some of the most impressive stone-built constructions erected by humans in recent prehistory.

They are the earliest large-scale monuments known to date, dating back to as early as 9,000 years ago, during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period in Jordan. Elsewhere, some of them were in use in more recent times.

These massive structures visible from airplanes were first recognized in the 1920s and were quickly interpreted as hunting traps, which was confirmed by recent archaeological excavations.

Currently, 6,255 desert kites have been recorded in the kite distribution area across the Middle East, Caucasia, and Central Asia.

Until recently, almost no in-depth studies had been carried out to enhance our understanding of their function, functioning, chronology or why they were so widespread in many regions.

In new research, Dr. Rémy Crassardan archaeologist at the Université Lyon and CNRS, and colleagues examined two engravings — dated to between 7,000 and 8,000 years old — that depict nearby desert kites in south-eastern Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia.

“In Jordan, the Jibal al-Khasabiyeh area has eight kites,” the researchers said.

“A stone with a representation carved with stone tools measuring 80 cm long and 32 cm wide was found nearby and dated to around 7,000 years ago.”

“Zebel az-Zilliyat in Saudi Arabia has two pairs of visible kites 3.5 km apart,” they added.

“Here a massive to-scale engraving measuring 3.82 m long, 2.35 m wide was excavated and the depiction was reportedly pecked rather than carved, possibly with hand picks. This was dated to around 8,000 years ago.”

According to the authors, these two engravings are the oldest known plans to scale in human history.

“The engravings, dated to between 8,000 and 9,000 years old, were discovered in Jordan and Saudi Arabia,” they said.

“They depict nearby desert kites that were humanmade mega structures used to trap wild animals.”

“Although human constructions have modified natural spaces for millennia, few plans or maps predate the period of the literate civilizations of Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt.”

“The ability to transpose large space onto a small, two dimensional surface represents a milestone in intelligent behavior.”

“Such structures are visible as a whole only from the air, yet this calls for the representation of space in a way not seen at this time.”

The team’s work appears in the journal PLoS ONE.

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R. Crassard et al. 2023. The oldest plans to scale of humanmade mega-structures. PLoS ONE 18 (5): e0277927; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0277927