The Desert "Kites" of the Badiyat Esh-Sham and North Arabia

Abstract

Archaeological investigations into the steppic regions of the Near East have only recently been systematized in controlled surveys and excavations. Prior to this information regarding pastoral nomads and 'archaeological' remains came from travellers' accounts. One corpus of such data concerned extensive stone structures in the basaltic sub-region of the Badiyat esh-Sham, 'desert kites', which have received much speculative attention. Their function and date were not established in any empirical way until very recently, and even then, the nature of evidence is problematical; it is typical of what might be called steppic archaeology. This, the long debate regarding 'kites' and the new evidence to hand are presented here and set against the development of steppic hunting technology from the Neolithic up to more recent periods.