Arabia and E Africa - Neolithic sites.kml

Arabia and E Africa - Neolithic sites

Objects

Stone circles
Stone circles are generally 5 - 17 m in diameter. The circle form is usually perfect. A stone circle always has a mound at its exact center.
Round-shaped structures that are missing the central mound, and are often not perfectly round, are categorized as "mere" enclosures.

Stone circles
Plus one very large one (faded)

Stone circle

Stone circles

Stone circles (many)

Stone circle?

Stone circles?

Stone circles (group)

Stone circles (many

Stone circles (many, perhaps older)
The grey round shapes in this area may much stone circles or mounds that are much older and have fallen down and spread around.

Stone circles (large)

Stone circle group

Stoen circle

Stone circel

stone circle

Stone circle (with mound plus tail)

Stone circle
With spokes

Stone circle with tail

Stone circles with tails

Stone circle plus tail

Stone circle plus tail (old?)

Stone circle plus needle

Stone cicle with tail

2 stone circles with tails

2 stone circles with tail

Stone circle with LONG tail (old?)

Stone circle and tail

30 or so stone circles
All on the south slope of a mountain

2 stone circles

3 stone circles

Stpne circle

2 stone circles (old?)

Stone cvircle

Stpme circle

Stone sircle

Stone circle with double walls

Stone circles with triangle
Some stone circles have an equilateral triangle connected directly to them, or at least very close by (perhaps with some mounds or a line connecting them.

Stone circle with triangle

Stone circle with triangle
This is the one that got me started!

Stone circle and triangle?

Stone circle with 3 triangles

Stone circle and trianble

Stone circle with 2 triangles

Stone circle and triangle

Stone circle plus triangle

Stone circle plus triangly tail

Stone circle plus tirangle

Stone circle plus 2 triangles

Stone circle triangles

Stone circle and 2 triangles

Stone circle plus tain

Stone circle plus triangle plus tail

Stone circle with tirangle

Triangles
Some triangles are found in isolation, though many do point towards something of interest.

Triangle?

Triangle

Triangle with tail

Triangle (small)?

2 triangles

2 triangles?

Tirangle?

Triangles

Triangles?

5 triangles

Tirangle

Tiangle

Triagle

4 triangles

Two triangles?

Mounds
Mounds are round piles of rocks. They turn up everywhere in this region. Often it appears that mounds are indended in the center (there's a lighter spot along with a shadow). Those mounds that have no such dimple appear to be quite flat.

Mounds with tails

Mound with tail

Mound with Tail

2 mounds with tails

Mound with tail?

Mound + tail?

5 mounds with tails

3 mounds with tails

Mound plus tail

Mound? plus tail

Many mounds with tails

Mounds

Many mounds

Mounds (multiple)

Mounds (many)

Mounds (many)
This whole flat area appears to be scattered with mounds.

Mounds?

Mound

5 mounds

Multiple mounds

Mound?

mound

2 mounds

Mound cluster

MANY mounds (probably was a large site)

Mouds

Enclosure

3 mounds

MOund

NMound

Many mounds (big settlement)

2 mounds?

2 Mounds

Needles
A needle is typically made up of two mounds (sometimes three, sometimes just one) situated next to each other, with one line of rocks pointing away from each mound in the same direction and gradually merging into a single, gradually finer line.

Needle

Needle?

Needles

Multiple needles

2 needles

Needles?

3 needles

Needle on top of line

3 Needles

Untitled Path

Lines
Lines are simply the strings of rocks that stretch out from other objects, most commonly stone circles or mounds. A line, in fact, is always assocated with some other structure, generally have one as a starting point. Almost all lines are relatively short, around 10 - 20 m, though a number are kilometers long and perfectly straight.

Line?

Line

Line
Made of long segments

Line
1 km

Lines

Unusual: made up of long segments instead of round dots

Lines?

LIne

Line - 5.2 km

Line - 1.5 km

Line - 3.3 km
Perfectly straight, though it appears 3 attempts were necessary.

Line - 1 km

Line - 2 km

2 lines

Lines (parallel)

Line (old?)

Linw

Line (but recent?)

Lilne

Line (double)

Lines (triple)

Multiple lines

Lines (double)

3 lines

Many lines

lLine

Line (doujble)

Line (triple)

3 lines?

5 Lines

Bars
These objects are generally made of two parallel lines with a mound or stone circle at each end and in the middle. So far found only in Eritrea and Djibouti.

Bar

Bar
Found by Niccolò
This find set off the discovery of many bars in this region as well as stone circles and mounds throughout East Africa.

Bar?

Bar (thin)

Bar (very nice)

bar

Enclosures
Round shapes generally without a mound in the middle. Often divided into two or four sections.

Enclosure (halved)

Enclosure (quartered)

Enclosures

Enclosure?

Enclsoure

Enclosure with tail

Enclosure with tail?

2 enclosures

Enclosure with triangle

Enclosure (double) with triangle

Enclosure (with triple mounds)

Enclosure (unusual)

Irregulars
Irregulars is the term for the somewhat round stone structures that are probably older than all others. They're very irregular in shape and generally clustered together places where presumably the people who made them thought would be a good place to set up camp, often at the bottom of hillside and cliffs. They're so chaotically shaped that sometimes it's hard to determine whether they are simply some natural feature of the terrain.

Irregulars

Many irregulars

Thick jumble of irregulars

Lots of irregulars

Irregulras

Irregular

Other objects
Shapes that don't match any other category

Rectangle mounds

Square mound

Rectangle?

Rectangle

Semicircle

Multiple objects - No name

Kite on top of long enclosures?

No name for this

Long enclosures

Long rectangle

Long rectangle (double)

Long rectangle (triple)

Rectangle with two mounds

No name for this one yet

Patchwork pattern

Patchwork

Rectangles

Square (uncommon)

Small rectangle (uncommon)

Enclosure divided by line

Enclosure (double-walled)

Triangle pointing out of circle
Perhaps this is simply a needle that has been built over an obsolete enclosure

Kites (Game traps)
Kite are structures set up to funnel fleeing wildlife into enclosures for the purpose of capturing them. The ones visible in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria are presumably from the time 7000 B.C. or so, though many could be newer.
The presence of kites generally means there was enough large herds of animals to maintain a large human population; in the same areas you'll generally see so many stone structures (such as needles) that it'ss difficult to count them all.

Approximate area of kites with simpler design
Most of the kites in the XXX lava field in Syria and Jordan have a more complex "star" shaped enclosure area. On the western edge, however, the designs are simpler and there tends to be a lot of overlapping as new kites were built on top of previous ones. Perhaps these are older.

Kite

Kite?

Kite - Megakite

Kites - Overlapping

Kites - Multiple

Kites - Many overlapping

West

Wets

Kites

Kite - Very large enclosure

Kites - Many

Multiple kites

Wow! - Khayber complex
This oasis location has been occupied since at least Neolithic times. The number of intact stone structures from that period of time easily outnumbers houses in modern Khayber.
Zoom in to any of the green lines, along which you'll then see anywhere from a few isolated stone structures to dozens lined up next to each other. Away from the paths the stone structures, though numerous, are layed out more chaotically.

Paths

Path

Path - Longest

Wow! - Al Hayit complex
This oasis location has been occupied since at least Neolithic times. Notice the hundreds of stone structures from that period of time surrounding the modern town of Al Hayit.
Zoom in to any of the green lines, along which you'll then see anywhere from a few isolated stone structures to dozens lined up next to each other. Away from the paths the stone structures, though numerous, are layed out more chaotically.

Other information

Harraat (lava fields)
The large basaltic lava fields of Saudi Arabia are outlined in black. Earlier (until a few thousand years ago) the oldest fields and adequate rain made for good soil that could support human and animal life. In many of such areas I stopped placemarking stone structures because there were so many. The sheer number of leftovers from that period is a sign that there was a human population here much larger than we think possible; we equate this area today with arid desert. If you want to explore for yourself, look within these lava fields.

Harrat Hutaymah

Harrat Khaybar
The Harrat Khaybar has, by my estimates, thousands of stone structures, though the density iis lower in the southest.

Harrat Kishb - Hi res
In this hi res section of the Harrat Kishb there are objects to be found pretty much anywhere on the lava field, but the density is low compared to other lava fields.

Harrat Kishb
Lava flow area. Note: excludes most recent flows because no XXX are to be found on these.

Harrat Ash Shamah
This volcanic field extends through Jordan into Syria.

Hurrat Uwayrid

Harrat Rahat

Harrat Rahat - Hi res - 1
In this hi res section of the Harrat Rahat there are objects to be found pretty much anywhere on the lava field, but the density of such is very low compared to other lava fields.

Harrat Rahat - Hi res - 2
In this hi res section of the Harrat Rahat there are objects to be found pretty much anywhere on the lava field, but the density of such is very low compared to other lava fields.

Harrat Rahat - Hi res - 3
Compared to the first two hi res areas of Harrat Raht, this area has a higher density of objects to be found. I started placemarking them, but when I realized how many there are I had to stop. You'll find many more aside from the ones I marked. Just zoom in on any part of this hi-res photo and you'll soon start finding your own structures.

Harrat Kayber - Hi res 1

Harrat Hadan
Harrat Hadan lave flows
Note that this area is more mountainous with no broad lava fields.

Harrat Nawasif
Harat Nawasif lava flows.
Note that I couldn't easily excluse the latest flows (on which no XXX are to be found)

Harrat Ar Raha