Qasr Azraq North Kite Field (Azraq Oasis Northern Fringe)
North Azraq Kites · Qa al-Azraq Deflation Kites · Azraq Wetland Edge Traps
PPNB to Pottery Neolithic (wetland phase)·Azraq wetland foragers·🇯🇴 Zarqa Governorate, Azraq Oasis north shore, Qa al-Azraq basalt–mudflat ecotone, Jordan
About
About Qasr Azraq North Kite Field (Azraq Oasis Northern Fringe)
Ecotone trap field (520 m) on the north shore of Qa al-Azraq (Azraq playa–oasis, 30 km²) 6 km north of Qasr Azraq (Lawrence's fort). 12 kites arrayed along the Pleistocene lake highstand strandline where basalt hamada meets deflated mudflat: walls 180-520 m forming shallow V (120° aperture) rather than long funnel—adapted to flat lake plain without topographic funnel. 1 m deep into lacustrine clay (deeper than basalt pits), shored with plank-impressed mudbrick collar.
Associated with PPNB Basta-type points and Azraq 18 lake-core pollen showing 6500 BCE wetland thicket. Function: spring waterfowl + gazelle dual trap at oasis bottleneck where animals concentrate. Most ecologically constrained kite design (flatland variant). Threatened by Azraq aquifer over-pumping (wetland shrank 500 m).
Why it mattersFlatland kite adaptation without funnel; 2.1 m clay pits with mudbrick—unique hydrology-trap interaction.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Single pit vs multi-pit function at wetland
Theories
- 01Waterfowl+gazelle dual hypothesis
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.7000-5500 BCE
- Period
- PPNB to Pottery Neolithic (wetland phase)
- Culture
- Azraq wetland foragers
- Builders
- Azraq oasis hamada–mudflat trappers
- Purpose
- Wetland bottleneck trapping at seasonal oasis convergence (gazelle + waterfowl)
- Abandoned
- c.5000 BCE
- Rediscovered
- 1981 Rollefson Azraq; 2005 Garrard Azraq lake survey; 2018 Geyer kite mapping
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
1981
Rollefson surveys north Azraq scatter with PPNB points
2018
Geyer-Abujaber maps 12 lake-edge kites with mudflat pit typology
On the ground
Structures & features
31.8800° N · 36.8300° E · 520 m · 2 mapped features
Azraq North V-Kite AN-3
desert kite320-m 120° V walls on strandline with 22-m pen and 2.1-m clay pit
31.8820° N · 36.8280° EQa al-Azraq Highstand Strandline
landformPleistocene lake strandline 4.2 km with basalt–mudflat beach ridge
31.8780° N · 36.8320° E