Addressing the Desert Kites Phenomenon and Its Global Range Through a Multi-proxy Approach

Abstract

International audienceThis 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 operating 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 computerized 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

The diversity of Late Pleistocene and Holocene wild ungulates and kites structures in Armenia

“…compatible with equid (asses/onagers) trapping. Further investigation regarding the architecture of cells is being carried out by the Globalkites project in Armenia and other regions of the Middle East and Central Asia (Crassard et al, 2014;Barge et al, 2015a,b. The double-stoned course of walls in the cells should be considered as an obstacle to prevent ungulates from leaping and jumping outside if they are trapped inside.…”

“…The most well-known desert kites engraved with hunting scenes are found notably in Syria, Jordan, and Arabia (Harding, 1953;Betts and Helms, 1986;Hershkovitz et al, 1987;MacDonald, 2005;Picalause et al, 2004;e.g. ;Crassard et al, 2014). Rare kite-like structures are suggested by depictions on a few engravings in Armenia, dated roughly around the 3rd and the 2nd millennium BC.…”

“…Several concentrations of stone structures known as "desert kites" (or simply kites) have been recorded along mountain chains in the Mount Aragats region (Barge et al, 2013;Gasparyan et al, 2013;Brochier et al, 2014;Crassard et al, 2014). Kites are located in temperate semi-arid to arid areas in landscapes including plateaus, steppe, semi-deserts, and dwarf shrub vegetation.…”

“…While hypotheses linking kites to hunting or husbandry were suggested for desert kites in the Middle East, kites in Armenia are mainly considered to be hunting structures Brochier et al, 2014). Even though kites are widely described as driving traps for gazelle herds, with the use of kite antennae as drive lines guiding animals towards the enclosures, no concrete evidence has of yet been recorded confirming this function ( Echallier and Braemer, 1995;Legge and Rowley-Conwy, 2000;Holzer et al, 2010;Bar-Oz et al, 2011;Nadel et al, 2013;Zeder et al, 2013;Crassard et al, 2014;Chahoud et al, 2015). An analysis of the zooarchaeological record on hunting activities, along with reconstructing animal prehistoric occurrence and behavior in kite areas, are therefore needed in order to try testing the hunting hypothesis and the identification of the prey targeted by kite structures.…”

“…Kites are mostly known from the observation of high-resolution satellite imagery, a technology that resulted in the increase of recorded kites to more than 4500 across the Middle East, Caucasus and Central Asia. Armenian examples were very recently discovered and represent an isolated concentration far from the Near Eastern ones to the South-West, and away from the Central Asian ones to the East (Barge et al, 2013;Crassard et al, 2014; a regularly updated interactive mapping of kite structures is available at http://www.globalkites.fr). This global zooarchaeological approach to better understand how kites were used and why they were built is innovative and will be applied in the near future to other regions where kites are highly concentrated (Chahoud et al, 2015).…”