Jabal Wisad South Chain Desert Kites (Southern Basalt Plateau)
Wisad South Kite Chain · Southern Wisad Kites
Pre-Pottery Neolithic B to Late Neolithic·Eastern Badia Late Neolithic pastoral-hunting·🇯🇴 Mafraq Governorate, Black Desert (Harrat al-Sham) South Plateau, Jordan
About
About Jabal Wisad South Chain Desert Kites (Southern Basalt Plateau)
Southernmost kite chain of the Wisad complex, 6 km south-southeast of Wisad Pools (745 m) on Harrat al-Sham basalt. Comprises 7 V-shaped desert kites in 4.5 km chain, each with 25–40 m star-shaped killing pen and paired guiding walls 120–420 m long funneling to apex pits. Built of basalt boulders 0.5–0.9 m high, pen walls use piled blocks without mortar. Dated 8500–6200 BCE (Late PPNB–Late Neolithic) via OSL on wall bases and associated Wisad Pools shrine charcoal. Chain exploits southward gazelle migration from Qa' al-Qattafi; kite WA-S07 has 6 circular pits 1.8 m diam. Threatened by basalt mining tracks.
Why it mattersSouthernmost Wisad kite chain documenting 4.5 km landscape-scale hunting architecture.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01How 7 kites coordinated as single system vs sequential
Theories
- 01Seasonal communal gazelle drive
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.8500 – 6200 BCE
- Period
- Pre-Pottery Neolithic B to Late Neolithic
- Culture
- Eastern Badia Late Neolithic pastoral-hunting
- Builders
- Black Desert gazelle hunters–pastoralists
- Purpose
- Communal gazelle hunting traps exploiting seasonal migration
- Abandoned
- c.6000 BCE
- Rediscovered
- 2014 Eastern Badia Archaeological Project UAV survey; 2020 Hill et al basalt mesas study
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
8500 BCE
Earliest kite WA-S01 construction
2014
EBAP UAV maps 7-kite south chain
On the ground
Structures & features
32.3800° N · 37.4600° E · 745 m · 2 mapped features
Wisad South Kite WA-S07 Star Pen
desert kite40-m star pen with 6 pits 1.8 m diam
32.3780° N · 37.4620° EWisad South Guiding Wall 320 m
wall320-m eastern guiding wall of kite WA-S03
32.3850° N · 37.4580° E