Harrat Rahah Kite Field – Tabuk Volcanic Field
Harrat al-Rahah Kites · NW Saudi Kites
Pre-Pottery Neolithic to Late Neolithic·Northwest Arabian Neolithic·🇸🇦 Tabuk Region, Harrat Rahah volcanic field, Saudi Arabia
About
About Harrat Rahah Kite Field – Tabuk Volcanic Field
Thirty-seven kites scattered across the young basalt flows of Harrat Rahah, a Pleistocene volcanic field 150 km northwest of the better-known Harrat Khaybar 'Works of the Old Men.' The field combines classic star kites with chain-linked kite walls up to 600 m, exploiting fresh pahoehoe flow lobes as natural funnel margins at 1,000–1,100 m elevation. The kites are the highest-yet-recorded in Arabia and were first systematically mapped by Kennedy & Bishop's 2014 aerial extension from Khaybar northwards; ground dating by SCTA found PPNB–Late Neolithic tanged points, confirming 8000–5000 BCE contemporaneity with Levantine harraat.
Why it mattersNW extension showing kite province continuous from Levant to Hejaz across all Saudi harrats.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Ibex vs gazelle targeting on lava
Theories
- 01Highland volcanic hunting landscape
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.8000 – 5000 BCE
- Period
- Pre-Pottery Neolithic to Late Neolithic
- Culture
- Northwest Arabian Neolithic
- Builders
- Tabuk volcanic field hunter-pastoralists
- Purpose
- Volcanic-field gazelle/ibex funnel trapping
- Abandoned
- c.4000 BCE
- Rediscovered
- 2014 Kennedy-Bishop aerial from Khaybar study; 2019 SCTA ground survey
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
8000 BCE
Initial pahoehoe-margin kite walls
2019
SCTA ground-truth 37 kites
On the ground
Structures & features
27.8200° N · 36.9100° E · 1050 m · 2 mapped features
Pahoehoe Margin Kite HR-9
geoglyph35-m star pit on lava lobe edge
27.8210° N · 36.9120° ELinked Wall Chain HR-14
earthwork600-m chain linking three pits
27.8150° N · 36.9050° E