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... In accordance with the variable habits of these different ungulates, specifically if they migrate in large herds or not, kites were placed in strategic spots on the landscape, either intersecting migration routes, near common game trails, or adjacent to grazing areas where browsing animals could be taken by surprise and driven into enclosures ( Bar-Oz and Nadel 2013;Zeder et al. 2013:115). Overall, site locations take advantage of the local topography as kites are constructed behind natural slopes where they would be hidden from approaching animals, or near hills and hillsides which acted as natural boundaries (Betts and Yagodin 2000;Brochier et al. 2014;Helms and Betts 1987;Holzer at al. 2010;Morandi Bonacossi, and Iamoni 2012;Nadel et al. 2013;Quenet and Chambrade 2013;Storemyr 2011:17). Generally, diverse desert Fig. 1. ...
Built structures to aid hunting activities, such as drive lanes and hunting blinds, have been documented on every continent with the exception of Antarctica. This global phenomenon dates to at least 12,000 years ago and is found across time, space, environments, and cultures. While there is increasing study and documentation of such sites, they are prone to destruction and are not always recognized, resulting in a lack of large-scale comparative studies. However, this widespread pattern deserves greater attention as it can reveal unique facets of social and economic life, particularly in the context of hunter-gatherer societies. Such constructions are literal niche construction, created to increase the yield and predictability of wild animal resources. They represent an investment in the landscape, organization of communal labor, a detailed knowledge of animal behavior, all the while creating socioeconomic tensions concerning permanent facilities and who owns them and the resources they generate among otherwise egalitarian populations. This paper presents a global overview of such features, and the anthropological theory and archaeological method to systematically study such sites. This methodology will be applied to a brief case study, analyzing some of the oldest hunting architecture on the planet, those submerged beneath Lake Huron.
... While at the local level, their construction is connected to daily itineraries as well as to the availability of pasture zones and water holes (Helms and Betts 1987;Perevolotsky and Baharav 1991;Betts and Yagodin 2000;Holzer et al. 2010;Nadel et al. 2013). Topography is the second criterion most commonly suggested (Helms and Betts 1987;Betts and Yagodin 2000;Holzer et al. 2010;Morandi Bonacossi and Iamoni 2012;Nadel et al. 2013;Quenet and Chambrade 2013;Brochier et al. 2014), i.e. essentially the taking advantage of a change of slope hiding the enclosure until the animals either approach or enter it and therefore either preventing or substantially curtailing any likelihood of flight. It was concluded that the direction of either the sun or the prevailing winds was less important in the choice of location for kites (Échallier and Braemer 1995;Nadel et al. 2013). ...
This paper argues that the wide geographical distribution of desert kites, which are huge archaeological structures of stone visible from satellite images, must be more broadly acknowledged as a momentous factor in the study of their variability and function. This is important so that researchers can more accurately understand and interpret their impact on biodiversity, landscapes and subsistence patterns. The first results and perspectives of the Globalkites research project are discussed and presented. Often considered as hunting traps, the kites could have also been used for animal husbandry. In a broader archaeological context, where kites seem to have been oper-ating from the Neolithic to recent historical times, we propose an interdisciplinary approach at the crossroads of anthropology (archaeology and ethnology), geomatics and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), geostatistics, mathematics and computer-ized data processing and geoarchaeological and bioarchaeological sciences (isotope studies, paleoclimatology, archaeozoology…). The principal aims of the project are to clearly articulate the variability of the structures and their relationship with the function and chronology of the kites. It is also crucial to discuss the wide distribution of these structures across the Middle East and Central Asia as a global phenomenon and the ideas that explain the dispersal and movements of people and/or traditions must be addressed.
... Within North Arabia, kites have now been found in the Jebel Sinjar in north Iraq (Kennedy 2012: 148;Globalkites Project), in the Syrian Jezireh (Poidebard 1934: pl. 140;Van Berg et al. 2004;Bar-Oz et al. 2011;Kennedy 2012: 148;Quenet & Chambrade 2013;Globalkites Project), across the border in southern Turkey (Kennedy 2012: 148;Globalkites Project), south-east of Aleppo (Kennedy 2012: 148;Globalkites Project), and stretching in a long line north-east to south-west along the hills of the Palmyrene, down almost to Damascus (Meshel 1974: fig. 7;Poidebard 1934;Echallier & Braemer 1995;Morandi Bonacossi & Iamoni 2012;Borrel et al. 2011;Kennedy 2012). ...
The desert kites of Jordan, usually stone-built enclosures with long trailing walls, are part of a broader phenomenon found throughout specific parts of the Middle East, with similar types of structures known widely across the world. Most commonly, the enclosures are used for trapping large herds of ungulates. Those found in Jordan are more densely packed and of much greater variety than those elsewhere in the Middle East. This paper offers a review of the current state of knowledge concerning desert kites in Jordan, including new data on patterns of orientation and recent studies that help to strengthen the case for a Neolithic date for some of the kite systems.
Desert kites are hunting mega-traps found from the Aralo-Caspian zone to Western Arabia. These structures present a singular and systematic layout suggesting that they were associated with an elaborate and standardized hunting technique. However, the morphology of these structures is very diversified (size, shape, and number of constituent elements) and here we seek to characterize this diversity. We propose a typology based on a previous clustering approach using morphological variables recorded for a representative sample, to which we add a qualitative input, the shape of the enclosures. The different identified types are regionalized and it is possible to propose a map at the scale of the entire distribution area.
