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AMMAN — Buried across Jordan’s arid landscapes, massive ancient stone structures known as "desert kites" have, since their discovery, left archaeologists in perplexity. Stretching across vast areas, these mysterious formations are invisible from the ground and can only be seen through aerial photography or satellite imagery.
“Approximately 6,000 desert kites have been identified across Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the Naqab desert, Yemen, and parts of Central Asia,” said Sahar Khasawneh during a lecture titled “Desert Kites and the Timing of Prehistoric Hunting Landscapes in Jordan”, held on Monday at the American Centre of Research.
Most of Jordan’s kites are concentrated in the Black Desert in the eastern part of the country, alongside other megalithic structures. Their name derives from their resemblance, when viewed from above, to the kites children fly.
Each structure typically features long, low stone walls forming a funnel that leads into an enclosed area, believed to have been used to trap wild and domesticated animals.
“These kites were often reused and rebuilt by local populations over different periods,” Khasawneh noted.
The first aerial images of the desert kites were captured in 1929 by British military aviator Lionel Rees, marking a pivotal moment in their study. Today, modern technology—such as satellite imagery, drone footage, and Google Earth—continues to reveal more about the structures and surrounding rock inscriptions.
Some of these ancient carvings depict scenes that suggest how the kites were used, reinforcing the theory that they served as sophisticated hunting traps. Rees himself interpreted the structures as enclosures for holding animals.
Khasawneh explained that the Arabic term masiada, meaning "trap," was historically used by locals to describe these formations. “This hypothesis—that the kites were hunting traps, has gained increasing acceptance among archaeologists and researchers,” she said.
Comparable hunting enclosures have been discovered in places as far-flung as North America, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan, highlighting the potential for cross-cultural parallels in prehistoric hunting techniques.
One of the major challenges archaeologists face, Khasawneh said, is determining the age of the structures. “We don’t always know whether a kite was reused or exactly when it was first built,” she explained.
To estimate their age, researchers often employ "proxy dating"—analysing artefacts found nearby to draw conclusions about the site's timeline and usage. However, a more precise technique, luminescence dating, is also being used.
“Luminescence dating allows us to determine when mineral grains—such as quartz—were last exposed to sunlight or heat,” Khasawneh explained. “Quartz minerals can store energy, like a battery. By measuring the energy they emit in the lab, we can calculate the last time they were exposed to light.”
This method has become an essential tool for archaeologists trying to unlock the timeline of Jordan’s desert kites and understand their role in the region’s prehistoric landscapes, she said.