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6,000 stone traps seen only from the air
Boing Boing • • science
Key Points:
- RAF pilots in the 1920s discovered large stone structures in the Middle East, later named "desert kites," characterized by two long stone walls converging into an enclosure with a tail.
- Over 6,000 desert kites have been identified across a vast area from Uzbekistan to Libya, with high concentrations in parts of Syria.
- These low, dry stone walls were designed to trap animals by guiding them into pits hidden at the enclosure's end, exploiting animal behavior to follow barriers.
- The oldest desert kites date back to the early Holocene, representing some of the most complex constructions of that era, though their exact use—whether for hunting wild game or managing livestock—remains debated among archaeologists.
