Large megastructures called as "desert kites" were fashioned into the stony terrain in the Middle Eastern deserts more than 8,000 years ago. Archaeologists just found the world's earliest architectural plans that explain how prehistoric people were able to build these enormous constructions.
A stone found in Jordan engraved with the plan of a desert kite.
Only in the 1920s, when airplanes were flying over the deserts, did they discover the existence of desert kites. Although the purpose of these structures has long baffled archaeologists, it is now thought that they were set up along migratory pathways as animal traps to capture herds of gazelle, antelope, and other game animals.
They are simply rock and dirt walls that can be up to 5 kilometers (3 miles) long. From the ground, they don't look like much, but from above, they take on the appearance of a massive pattern.
It was previously unknown how prehistoric humans planned and built the constructions without being able to view them from the air because of their magnitude. But this is being explained by the recent discovery of two engravings in Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
Two 8,000+ year old desert kites can be seen at Zebel az-Zilliyat in Saudi Arabia, which is located about 3.5 kilometers (2 miles) apart. Additionally, 382 centimeters (nearly 150 inches) long engravings that appear to be scale designs of the desert kites have been discovered here by experts.
If this interpretation is accurate, the engravings represent the earliest scaled plans that have ever been discovered.
The development of organized civilizations and the development of agriculture during this period was a crucial turning point in the history of humanity. The finding of these architectural blueprints, according to the researchers, looks to be a turning point in human intelligence. The engravings demonstrate that the construction of the desert kites was organized and required abstract thought and audacious imagination, as opposed to being a hasty blunder.
"These representations shed new light on the evolution of human discernment of space, communication, and communal activities in ancient times," the study's authors write in their report.
"Although human structures have altered natural areas for thousands of years, Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt's literate civilizations are the earliest known to have created blueprints or maps. One significant development in intelligent behavior is the capacity to compress a huge space onto a constrained, two-dimensional surface. Such constructions can only be viewed in their entirety from the air, but this necessitates the portrayal of space in a way that hasn't been done before, according to their statement.
The report has been released in the PLOS ONE publication.
