Many people believe that ancient civilizations were archaic. However, studies have revealed that these societies had many skills and techniques capable of even developing architectural plans to build colossal structures.
Recently, a study published in the journal “Plos One” by archaeologists revealed that there are megastructures in the deserts of the Middle East. These megastructures, called “desert kites,” were carved into the rocky landscape more than 8,000 years ago.
Desert kites were discovered in the mid-1920s when airplanes flew over deserts and observed different patterns in the landscape.
For many years, desert kites were a great enigma. Especially with regard to their purpose. Today, there is speculation that these structures were used as traps to capture animals.
Apparently, these constructions were strategically positioned with migration routes in mind, and were used to imprison herds of gazelles, antelopes and other game animals.
These megastructures are made of rock and earth and are up to 5 kilometers long. At ground level, they are not very impressive, but when viewed from above, a colossal pattern can be seen.
How did ancient societies design these megastructures?
Due to its magnitude, many researchers asked themselves: How did these societies manage to design this construction without the ability to see it from above?
Recently, a discovery of two engravings found in Jordan and Saudi Arabia is bringing new explanations to this question.
In the Zebel az-Zilliyat region of Saudi Arabia, there are two desert kites that are 3.5 km apart.
In this scenario, researchers found engravings measuring about 382 centimeters in length, which are apparently scale representations of desert kites.
Thus, if this interpretation is correct, these engravings will be the oldest scale plans ever found in the history of humanity.
In this sense, researchers point out that the discovery of these architectural plans could be a milestone in human intelligence.
“These representations shed new light on the evolution of human understanding of space, communication and community activities in ancient times”the researchers point out in their article.
