Maitland's Mesa Kite Enclosure (Maitland's Hillfort Mesa)
Maitland's Hillfort · Mesa M-4 Kite Enclosure · Maitland's Mesa Black Desert
PPNB to Late Neolithic·Harrat pastoral foragers·🇯🇴 Mafraq Governorate, Harrat al-Sham, 40 km SSE of Wisad Pools, basalt mesa, Jordan
About
About Maitland's Mesa Kite Enclosure (Maitland's Hillfort Mesa)
Flat-topped basalt mesa (710 m, 380 x 220 m, 15 m high) 40 km SSE of Wisad Pools, originally misidentified by RAF Lieutenant Percy Maitland (1927) as an Iron Age hillfort due to crenellated parapet of small basalt chain structures—now recognized as 11 desert kites + 22 chain cairns on mesa top and piedmont. 6 m high double-faced. Mesa-top cairn chain runs 210 m spine with 9 chambers interpreted as cult offering foci contemporaneous with kites (PPNB–Late Neolithic, 7300-6000 BCE).
Rowan & Hill 2015 lidar revealed phasing: early small kites (7300 BCE) overlain by later larger 1 km kite MM-7. Adjacent to seasonal birkeh (pond) now dry. First site named 'desert kite' (Maitland 1927) giving the entire phenomenon its English name.
Why it mattersType-site of the term 'desert kite'; earliest aerial-archaeology misidentification (hillfort → kite).
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Cairn chain–kite contemporaneity vs sequential
Theories
- 01Early small vs late large kite functional change
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.7300-6000 BCE
- Period
- PPNB to Late Neolithic
- Culture
- Harrat pastoral foragers
- Builders
- Maitland mesa hunter collectives
- Purpose
- Mass gazelle trapping on mesa piedmont + mesa-top cult cairn offerings
- Abandoned
- c.5500 BCE
- Rediscovered
- 1927 Maitland aerial; 2013 SEBAP Rowan–Hill; 2015 JFA lidar phasing
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
1927
Maitland photographs mesa from Cairo-Baghdad airmail; coins term 'kite'
2015
Rowan–Hill JFA maps 11 kites + cairn chain; lidar phasing MM-7 overlies earlier
On the ground
Structures & features
32.1000° N · 37.3200° E · 710 m · 2 mapped features
Maitland Mesa Kite MM-1 Funnel
desert kite420-m funnel walls from mesa edge to 28-m pen with 4 pits
32.1020° N · 37.3180° EMaitland Mesa Cairn Chain
cairn chain210-m spine chain of 9 stone cairn chambers on mesa top
32.1050° N · 37.3220° E
Gallery