Humans living in the third millennium BCE manage to find sufficient quantities of meat in the arid desert regions through unique traps. A new study of the “desert kites” that are spread across the expanses of Israel’s Negev and Arava desert region, carried out by researchers from the University of Haifa, unearths them which has answered this ancient technique.
In the early 20th century, British pilots flying over the Middle Eastern deserts identified strange forms spreading over hundreds of meters, sometimes even over a few kilometers. The shapes looked like two long walls that meet at angles and at the meeting point of each wall was a round-shaped trench.
To the pilots, the shapes resembled kites, hence the name given to them: “desert kites.” A few such “kites” are known of in the deserts of Jordan, Syria, Israel, and Sinai. Archaeologists have suggested a number of theories as to the uses of these constructs, most supposing that they were used for hunting purposes, others suggesting that they served as cattle pens.
An interdisciplinary research group, funded by National Geographic, completed an encompassing survey of all eleven “kites” of the Negev and Arava, which included archaeological digs in four “kites”, detailed documentation by means of state-of-the-art measuring instruments, aerial and ground photography, and dating by means of two independent radiometric methods.
The extensive study, which examined all eleven traps scattered from Givat Barnea in the north of the desert region to Eilat in the south, also exposed the thinking processes that were invested in planning each trap.
Dr. Bar-Oz stated the findings clearly show that these “kites” were used as mass hunting apparatus, dating back no later than the third millennium BCE. “When standing in one of these kites, it is astounding to see how it fits into the landscape and how the wild animals’ migration routes would converge into the hidden kite, Only then can one grasp how much energy and strategic understanding were invested in its construction.
The height of the walls which sometimes reached over one meter, and their thickness testify that the apparatus were intended for hunting not only gentle animals, such as deer, but also larger hoofed animals like wild ass and rams.
The kites’ branches can reach over 200 meters in length. At the base of each kite, the branches converge and end in a chasm or large trench. On some of the kites, an elevated stage was erected, probably in order to heighten the leaping wall and perhaps to hide the trench that was dug beneath it.
According to the researchers, the hunting method involved directing the indigenous wild animals alongside the walled branches of the kite toward its tip and its trench, where hunters awaited them.
Dr. Nadel noted the traps were placed in locations where animal migration routes were concentrated into bottlenecks. There is no doubt that this reflects that the prehistoric inhabitants of the desert had a lot of knowledge: they knew the cattle migration routes very well and knew where to place each of the traps most efficiently,” “We were not taken by surprise by the technological ability; humans in that period were very similar to us in their capabilities… We are definitely talking about wide-scope construction in a region that is challenging for survival.
The research was headed by a University of Haifa team: zooarchaeologist Dr. Guy Bar-Oz, archaeologist Dr. Daniel Nadel, and landscape ecologist Dr. Dan Malkinson. Also participating in the project were researchers from the Arava Institute, the Geological Institute in Jerusalem, the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, and Bar-Ilan University.
Photos pending
A 6000 Year Old Cemetery is Discovered in Excavations at Palmahim (April 7, 2005) A cemetery, dating to the Chalcolithic period (the fourth millennium BCE), was exposed in salvage excavations. The site, on which a desalinization facility is to be constructed, is located on a low kurkar ridge near the outlet of Nahal Soreq. The exposure of the cemetery at Palmahim, in the center of the coastal plain, its rare state of preservation and the combination of several methods of burial (in kurkar ossuaries and in burial jars) represent a significant contribution to our understanding of the burial patterns of the Chalcolithic period.
The cemetery consists of different-sized circular and rectangular burial structures, which, until now, were unknown on the coastal plain. The circular structures are 1.5–3.0 m in diameter, whereas the average rectangular structure is 1.5 x 3.0 m in size. The tombs, built of indigenous kurkar sandstone, were very well preserved, protected by a covering of sand dunes. Some of the tombs were covered by an in situ stone dome. Their entrances usually faced the north and were blocked with large stones, found in situ in some tombs. The structures contained many ossuaries (small coffins, 0.6 m long) made of the carefully polished indigenous kurkar, which were sometimes covered with a fitted stone slab-lid. The ossuaries were used for secondary burials, that is, they held the bones of the deceased that were gathered up sometime after the individual’s death.
Several different kinds of stone ossuaries were uncovered; some of the ossuaries and the burial items were made of clay. In most of the structures a standing stone (mazzeva) (often very large) was installed in the eastern wall, incorporated within the construction of the wall or set inside a special niche. All the mazzevot face east and are apparently related to some ritual practice because in a number of instances, funerary offerings, such as pottery vessels, were found near them. The phenomenon of mazzevot (rectangular or oval) is well documented in other sites of the period. More than fifty burial structures were found and the cemetery was probably very crowded.
Nevertheless, some planning is evidenced by the presence, between the tombs, of a courtyard which was paved with small kurkar stones and was preserved over large parts of the site. The precise boundaries of the cemetery, as well as the settlement that was inhabited by the interred have not yet been traced . Osteological remains were not found, probably due to the combination of climatic conditions and the site’s proximity to the sea. The artifacts include pottery vessels, flint tools characteristic of the period, beads and mazzevot of various types and sizes.
The importance of this discovery is the revelation of a different, unknown, burial practice of the Chalcolithic period, The known Chalcolithic cemeteries in the center of the country consist of natural or rock-cut caves that contain ossuaries together with an abundance of funerary offerings. In the frontier regions (Negev, Sinai and Transjordan) the deceased were usually interred in circular stone structures. Upon the completion of the excavation, which was financed by the Via Maris Company, a plan was initiated to transfer some of the structures that represent each type of burial to a location where they can be displayed to the public.
photo pending
A previously unknown burial field more than 4,000 years old was discovered beneath the place where the “Model of Jerusalem from the time of the Second Temple” was once displayed, next to the Holy Land Hotel, in Jerusalem Holy Land Park. The burial field more than 4,000 years old was uncovered with the cemetery unique and rich in finds. The site is located at the end of the hill where the Beit Ve’Gan neighborhood is situated and looks out over ‘Emeq Rephaim, in the vicinity of Malha.
The directors of the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, reported that “the cemetery extends across more than two dunams, and based on the evidence at the site burials were conducted there for many generations, particularly in the Bronze Age, between the years 2200-2000 BCE and 1700-1600 BCE”. Together with the human bones that were found there were also animal bones consisting mostly of sheep and goats. All of the artifacts served as funerary offerings and the animals and food that the pottery vessels probably contained are referred to in archaeological literature as “food for the dead”.
A wealth of artifacts has been recovered from the cemetery including scarabs that were used as amulets; an imitation of Egyptian scarabs; metal objects, among them weapons and tools; jewelry and intact high quality pottery vessels that were meticulously manufactured. The importance of the excavation’s findings lies in the contribution they provide in increasing our knowledge about these periods in the rural region near Canaanite Jerusalem. All of Jerusalem’s agricultural hinterland c. 4,000 and c. 3,700 years ago was much greater than we have previously considered. (November 9, 2006)
Funerary offerings found at the site
The excavation area
