8,000-year-old architectural plans found in Jordan-KSA desert

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
18 May 10:49

These areas are considered locations of interest due to the presence of structures indicating a sophisticated level of cultural development among the ancient inhabitants.

A photo of the engraved stone found in Jabal al-Khashabiyah in Jordan (Sputnik/Crassard et al)

Two ancient architectural plans in Jordan and Saudi Arabia, carved on rocks by ancient inhabitants of the Middle East between 8,000 and 9,000 years ago, were unearthed by Arab and European architects.

Led by leading researcher at the University of Lyon, Rémy Crassard, the team discovered what is one of the oldest examples of construction plans by a highly-developed civilization.

"However, while human constructions have modified natural spaces and their surroundings for many millennia, few plans or maps of such human-made structures predate the protohistoric period of the literate civilizations of Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt," he wrote.

The researcher further detailed the "exceptional discovery of the up-to-now oldest realistic plans, engraved on stones, of some of these human-made archaeological mega-traps, from south-eastern Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia, the oldest of which are dated to 9,000 years ago."

They were stumbled upon during the study of several "desert kites" in the vicinity of the Jabal al-Khashabiyah in southeastern Jordan, and Jabal al-Zilliyat in northern Saudi Arabia, which are massive trap-like enclosures hunter-gatherer tribes in the Stone Age used to capture animals that migrate or move in herds. Such kites have also recently been found in Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere in the Middle East.

These areas have been locations of interest due to the presence of structures indicating a sophisticated level of cultural development of the ancient inhabitants. Two monoliths were found at the sites with highly unusual rock art illustrating sets of lines, and Crassard and his colleagues found that both monoliths were exact architectural plans of these desert kites.

Archaeologists have stated these drawings helped ancient builders avoid mistakes in the construction of "desert kites" since there was no ability for the aerial view of landscapes.

According to anthropologists, modern forms of art began 40,000 years ago, while abstract art presumably emerged after the dawn of civilization, during the formation of Ancient Egypt and the first city-states of Mesopotamia.

Archaeologists have scored several wins this year with multiple discoveries all around the world.

Most recently, archaeologists in Peru discovered a more than 1,000-year-old mummy on the outskirts of Peru's modern capital of Lima in the latest discovery dating back to pre-Inca times. The mummy was probably an adolescent and was found in an underground tomb wrapped in a funerary bundle, along with ceramics and rope and bits of skin and hair.

2,000-year-old Roman coins were also uncovered by archeologists on the Swedish desert island of Gotska Sandön in March and Egyptian and British archeologists unearthed an ancient tomb in the city of Luxor which is believed to contain the remains of an 18th dynasty royal back in January.