Plans etched into stone tablets depict vast hunting traps called desert kites built 9000 years ago, showing a mastery of geometry long before the invention of writing
Keep up with advances in archaeology and evolution with our monthly newsletter.In March 2015, Crassard and his colleagues accidentally came across an 80-centimetre-tall, 92-kilogram limestone tablet in an excavated campsite near a 9000-year-old kite in Jordan, with detailed architectural plans etched into it. They could hardly believe it, but, even more surprisingly, they stumbled across a second kite plan only three months later, this time etched into a 3.
“These were really emotional moments for us in our scientific careers,” says Crassard. “Finding one was already exceptional, but finding two was even more exceptional. We were yelling and dancing around!” Recognising similarities with the kites nearby, the researchers used computer modelling to mathematically compare the engraved images with satellite images of 69 kites. They found that the plans etched into stone were “surprisingly realistic and accurate” depictions of actual kites within a distance of 1 to 2 kilometres, says Crassard. The two plans had been created at scales of 1:175 and 1:425 and even included three-dimensional pitting to represent the kites’ pit traps.
The plans might have helped build the huge, complex structures, but they might also have guided hunters to understand how best to use them, says Abu-Azizeh.
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