Maitland's Mesa South Cairn Field Kites (Mesa M-4 South Pediment)
Maitland's Mesa South Pediment · Mesa 4 South Kites
Late Neolithic (5500–4000 BCE)·Late Neolithic / Chalcolithic Badia·🇯🇴 Mafraq Governorate, Wadi al-Qattafi, Maitland's Mesa (Mesa 4) south pediment cairn field, Jordan
About
About Maitland's Mesa South Cairn Field Kites (Mesa M-4 South Pediment)
South pediment 1.5 km south of Maitland's Mesa (M-4) top (670 m) in Wadi al-Qattafi system. Four kites with 220–400 m walls interspersed with 50+ cairn tumuli (1.5 m dia) and ‘pendant’ stone piles — unique cairn–kite association at Maitland's. Walls link cairn to cairn (cairn as wall anchor). EBAP 2014 excavated kite MK-3 pen: charcoal 5200 BCE in pit with Cairn 23 burial (secondary inhumation) 12 m away, suggesting funerary–hunting landscape integration. Mesa looms 45 m above, visible skyline.
Why it mattersKey geoglyph illustrating Late Neolithic / Chalcolithic Badia hydraulic/geoglyph/kite/kurgan tradition in Mafraq Governorate, Wadi al-Qattafi, Maitland's Mesa (Mesa 4) south pediment cairn field.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Cairn–kite functional vs symbolic
Theories
- 01Hunting–mortuary integrated 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.5500–4000 BCE
- Period
- Late Neolithic (5500–4000 BCE)
- Culture
- Late Neolithic / Chalcolithic Badia
- Builders
- Late Neolithic
- Purpose
- South pediment cairn-linked kite at Maitland's Mesa
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.5500–4000 BCE
Initial construction
2020
Drone/UAV high-resolution mapping and heritage inventory
On the ground
Structures & features
32.1200° N · 37.2200° E · 670 m · 4 mapped features
Cairn-Anchored Kite MK-3 Pen (22 m)
desert kite22-m pen with wall anchored on Cairn 23
32.1210° N · 37.2210° ECairn Field (50 tumuli)
necropolis50+ cairn tumuli 1.5 m diam interspersed with kites
32.1190° N · 37.2190° EMesa Skyline Viewpoint
landscape45-m Maitland's Mesa skyline viewpoint
32.1220° N · 37.2220° EPendant Stone Pile MK-3a
cairnPendant stone pile wall anchor
32.1210° N · 37.2210° E