Azraq Basin Desert Kites (Qa al-Azraq Deflation Rim)
Azraq Oasis Rim Kites · Qa al-Azraq Basalt Rim Kite Field
Late Neolithic (PPNB-related)·Azraq oasis Neolithic foragers·🇯🇴 Zarqa Governorate, Azraq Basin (12,714 km² endorheic), Jordan
About
About Azraq Basin Desert Kites (Qa al-Azraq Deflation Rim)
Kite field on the basalt deflation rim of Qa al-Azraq sebkha (520 m, 31.83°N 36.82°E), the lowest point of the 12,700 km² Azraq Basin shared with Syria (94% in Jordan) and Saudi. Rees's 1929 arch kite south of Qasr al-Azraq (first described as kite) plus Oxford 2022 UAV survey adds 11 kites 60-280 m on lake-bed edge trapping wadi fans from Jebel Druze and Wadi Sirhan. Substrate is Holocene silt over basalt; pit traps cut 0.9 m into silt. Palaeolake shoreline fauna (hippo, rhino) below. IUCN 2010 salt-fresh intrusion study area. Driest part of basin (IUCN) but Pleistocene recharge suggests earlier marsh hunt focal point.
Why it mattersOnly wetland-rim kites linking desert and marsh ecology, Azraq Basin type site.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Rim vs Harrat hunter identity
Theories
- 01Wetland trap extension
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.6800-5500 BCE
- Period
- Late Neolithic (PPNB-related)
- Culture
- Azraq oasis Neolithic foragers
- Builders
- Azraq basin Neolithic hunters
- Purpose
- Seasonal wetland gazelle drive to marsh trap
- Abandoned
- c.5500 BCE (desiccation)
- Rediscovered
- 1929 Rees aerial; 2022 Oxford mapping
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
1929
Rees kite south of Qasr al-Azraq
2022
UAV 11-kite deflation rim mapping
On the ground
Structures & features
31.8300° N · 36.8200° E · 520 m · 2 mapped features
Azraq Qa Rim Northern Kite
desert kite280-m kite on Qa al-Azraq basalt rim
31.8320° N · 36.8220° EQasr al-Azraq Rees Kite
desert kiteHistoric 1929 Rees kite south spur pit
31.8280° N · 36.8180° E