Jibal al-Khashabiyeh South Kite Field
Khashabiyeh Southern Kites · Azraq South Desert Kites
Pre-Pottery Neolithic to Late Neolithic·PPN / Yarmoukian pastoralists·🇯🇴 Zarqa Governorate, Azraq Basin, Jibal al-Khashabiyeh south, Jordan
About
About Jibal al-Khashabiyeh South Kite Field
A 12-km extension of the Jibal al-Khashabiyeh kite mega-cluster, documenting 45 additional desert kites on the southern basalt fringe of the Azraq Basin. First mapped by Abu-Azizeh & Tarawneh 2019 UAV survey south of the type concentration, these kites exhibit classic funnel-and-enclosure morphology with 20–35 m diameter killing pits and 120–400 m guiding walls converging toward the khashabiyeh basalt plateau. Pre-Pottery Neolithic (8000–5500 BCE) gazelle migration traps, they extend the world's largest kite province southward; faunal remains of Persian gazelle and onager date the cluster to PPNB–Late Neolithic.
Why it mattersExtends largest known kite province; confirms southward migration corridor for gazelle drives.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Seasonality of mass kills
Theories
- 01Communal PPNB pastoral trap
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 – 5500 BCE
- Period
- Pre-Pottery Neolithic to Late Neolithic
- Culture
- PPN / Yarmoukian pastoralists
- Builders
- Levantine Neolithic hunter-pastoralists
- Purpose
- Communal gazelle trapping for mass harvest
- Abandoned
- c.4000 BCE
- Rediscovered
- 2019 Abu-Azizeh UAV extension survey
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
8000 BCE
Earliest funnel walls constructed
2019
45 new kites mapped by drone
On the ground
Structures & features
31.1200° N · 36.4800° E · 520 m · 2 mapped features
Kite K-23 Star Enclosure
geoglyphStar-shaped kite with 32-m enclosure
31.1190° N · 36.4810° EFunnel Wall W-7
earthwork380-m guiding wall converging to pit
31.1230° N · 36.4760° E
Gallery