Desert kites (Arabic:مصائد صحراوية,romanized: maṣāʾid ṣaḥrāwiyya,lit. 'deserttraps') are dry stone wall structures found inSouthwest Asia (Middle East, but alsoNorth Africa,Central Asia andArabia), which were first discovered from the air during the 1920s. There are over 6,000 known desert kites, with sizes ranging from less than a hundred metres to several kilometres. They typically have akite shape formed by two convergent "antennae" that run towards an enclosure, all formed by walls ofdry stone less than one metre high, but variations exist.
Little is known about their ages, but the few dated examples appear to span the entireHolocene. The majority view on their purpose is that they were used as traps for huntinggame animals such asgazelles, which were driven into the kites and hunted there.
Desert kites are stone structures with a convergent shape,[1] composed of linear piles of stones. The structures have lengths ranging from less than a hundred metres to several kilometres and heights of less than one metre, even accounting for erosion.[2] There often are gaps in the lines, which were presumably either purposeful (left by the builders) or the consequence of lines being formed by alignments ofcairns rather than a continuous row.[3] There are a number of different shapes that are referred to as "desert kites",[4] but one common feature of all such structure are the lines forming two walls ("antennae") that converge into an enclosure ("head") with attached cells.[5] Different regions have different prevalent kite types.[6] Sometimes the existence of these cells is considered essential for a desert kite to be considered as such.[1]
Research published in 2022 has shown that pits several metres deep often lie[7] at the margins of enclosures, which have been interpreted as traps andkilling pits.[8] The kites enclose surface areas with amedian of 10,000 square metres (110,000 sq ft), but much larger and much smaller sizes are also known.[9]
They are typically found in areas with elevated but flat topography or topographically complex terrain, but are rare or absent from sloping terrain,[10] mountainous regions, or withinendorheic basins, although they occur at the margins of mountains.[11] Often, the terrain within the kite is much more open than the outside terrain, lacking vegetation and rocks.[10] In general, the visibility of the kites from their inside is poor, which appears to be a purposeful feature of their construction; for example, the ends and entrances of the kites often coincide with slope breaks (places where the slope changes).[12] Within a given region, the kites tend to have a preferred orientation.[13] They are absent fromhumid climates and from certainhyperarid areas, and their use may have been influenced by Holoceneclimate changes.[14]
Their often enormous size and conspicuousness inarid orsemiarid terrain renders them visible inaerial images,[15] while their construction in rough terrain makes them almost invisible on the ground.[16] Sometimes, natural features likecliffs are used in conjunction with the artificial walls to form a kite.[17] Clearing vegetation around the lines or using rocks with a different colour from the background has been documented in volcanic terrain.[3] InArabia, cairns and linear stone alignments have been found associated with kites.[18]
Dating kites is difficult;[5] various dating methods likeradiocarbon dating andoptically stimulated luminescence (OSL) have yielded ages ranging from the early to the lateHolocene,[19] and there are sporadic reports of their use in travel records.[5] The early Holocene kites are the most complex man-made structures of that time.[20] Some kites have been overprinted by later archaeological structures,[21] destroyed,[22] eroded or submerged,[23] or built out over time to form more complex shapes.[24] In some places, structures like cairns, tombs or square walls occur alongside kites.[25]
Kites are known from theMiddle East andCentral Asia, with examples known mainly fromUzbekistan,Kazakhstan,Armenia,Turkey,Iraq,Syria,Lebanon,Israel,Palestine,Jordan,Saudi Arabia,Yemen,Egypt andLibya.[26]
Kites have also been found inMongolia[27] andSouth Africa.[28] As of 2018[update], there were over 6,000 known kites in Asia and the Middle East,[1] and in some parts of Syria there are as many as 1 kite every 2 square kilometres (0.77 sq mi),[5] to the point that they are partially overlapping or form complicated structures.[29] Similar large enclosures that were presumably used as traps have been found in Europe, where they were dated toMesolithic andNeolithic age; North America, where structures known asdrive lines have been used into the 19th centuryAD;[9][30] South America; and Japan.[31]
Both archaeological studies and ethnographic accounts from the 19th and 20th century indicate that desert kites in the Middle East and North Africa were used as traps forwild game.[32][33] A minority viewpoint is that they were used forlivestock management. The disagreement stems mainly from a lack of factual evidence to support either hypothesis, from disputes on the interpretation of evidence,[34] and from the extinction of traditions involving desert kites.[35] There is almost no evidence of what happened to animals after they were trapped[36] or which animals were targeted, but ethnographic analyses indicate that kites were used to huntungulates likegazelles,[37] which live in groups and form defensive formations when threatened.[38] The usage of traps in catching animals in the steppe is mentioned in theEpic of Gilgamesh.[39] The construction of kites would have required coordinated work from multiple people and are thus indicative of social organization, even if the trapping of animals is a comparatively simple hunting technique.[40] The use of kites in trapping animals is depicted inIsraeli,[41] Mongolian[42] andSinaipetroglyphs; these drawings may not always be contemporaneous to the actual usage of the kites.[43] Petroglyphs relating to kites have been found on kites.[44]
Studies show that even low walls or linear structures like pipelines can effectively "guide" animals, which do not attempt to cross the lines even if they are physically able to do so, explaining the effectiveness of desert kites.[45] The low visibility of the kite structures prevents the animals from recognizing the trap.[13] The positioning of pits at the end of convergent enclosures and the presence of small walls delimitating pits from the enclosure would hide the pit from the animals until they are too close to change course in their panic.[46] The entrances often are situated opposite to the direction ofanimal migration in the region on a wide scale,[47] or of daily animal behaviours on a small scale.[48] The use of desert kites may have had a significant impact on wild animals.[19]
The usage of kite-like structures to trap animals is attested in 1831.[49] Desert kites were originally identified in aerial images during the 1920s and were initially interpreted asanimal traps,enclosures for domesticated animals orfortresses.[15] They are referred to as "desert kites" or "kites",[5] a name bestowed to them by theRoyal Air Force pilotGroup CaptainLionel Rees, in reference to their resemblance totoy kites. Given that they are commonly found indesert areas, they later became known as "desert kites", which is now the commonly used term in academic literature.[50]
The advent of publicly availablesatellite imagery such asGoogle Earth andGoogle Maps during the 2010s, on which desert kites are visible to everyone, has led to a resurgence of interest in these archaeological sites and the realization that they are widespread.[26] However, withoutfieldwork, it is difficult to gain a full picture of what they were.[50] Only a very few kites have been excavated or subject to dating efforts, and many of these are not representative of the majority of kites.[51]
Engraved depictions of the layout of desert kites have been found,[52] some of which are schematic and others are like scaled models.[53] Open questions in kite research include what they were used for, when they were used and why the technology is so widespread.[54]
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