Antiquity Vol 83 Issue 319 March 2009
http://antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/bar-oz/
The Negev (southern Levant) desert kites: a
preliminary report
Guy Bar-Oz, Uzi Avner, Dan Malkinson & Dani Nadel
Figure 1. Location of the 11 desert kites in the southern Levantine Negev.
Introduction
Desert kites are ancient large triangular-shaped features, each built of two long diagonal
stone walls with a circular enclosure at the apex. The enclosure can range from a few metres
to 100m in diameter and the walls may extend for hundreds of metres and even kilometres.
The walls are constructed of local stones and vary in thickness and height. These extensive
stone structures functioned mainly as game traps, designed to capture large numbers of wild
animals.
The earliest kites were dated in eastern Jordan to the Neolithic period (seventh millennium
BCE; Helms & Betts 1987; Betts 1998). They were continuously used for thousands of years,
some even as late as the early twentieth century (e.g. Musil 1928). However, only a few kites
have been securely dated, as their past function limits their potential for accurate dating (i.e.
many contain only a very small number of artefacts, animal bones or organic remains). The
kites found in the Trans-Jordanian deserts are huge, sometimes comprising long chains
across tens of kilometres (Helms & Betts 1987). At the other end of the scale are the small
isolated kites of the Negev and Sinai desert (e.g. Meshel 2000).
Here we present preliminary results of our ongoing investigation of the Negev desert kites.
The project includes systematic exploration and documentation of all the known Negev kites
(n=11) in their topographical and landscape settings, and excavation of four of the bestpreserved ones (Figure 1). The research is a multidisciplinary endeavour that seeks to shed
new light on past human adaptations to arid environments.
The Negev desert kites
All 11 Negev kites are located in carefully chosen, advantageous and strategic settings. The
kites can be divided into two major groups according to their environmental locations. Some
were built at the opening of rich pasture areas while others were constructed along ancient
local migration routes of ungulates. The latter kites are isolated and located at topographic
'bottlenecks' or cliff edges in hilly environments (Figure 2). Among the kites near large pasture
areas three are adjacent (e.g. the Samar Kites; Figure 3). Though on a much smaller scale,
this group of kites is similar to the chain kites in Transjordan (e.g. Jawa and Dhuweila areas).
Figure 2. Aerial view of the Nahal Eshel kite. Note the natural topographic drop of the cliff
incorporated in the design of the kite and the construction of the enclosure (red arrow). The
length of each wall is c. 100m (blue arrows mark the distal ends of the walls).
.
Figure 3. Aerial view of the adjacent Samar-West kites, A at the top and B at the bottom.
Note that the two kites are almost connected like a 'W' (modern tracks cross the long walls).
The locations of enclosures are marked by red arrows and blue arrows mark the distal ends
of the walls.
Figure 4. Microlithic flint lunates found during the excavation of the enclosure of Samar-West
B kite.
We excavated the apex of four kites from distinct ecological settings: two adjacent kites
(Samar-West A and B in the southern Arava Valley), which were presumably used at the
same time, and two isolated ones (Sayarim in a hilly area and Pitam in the Ramon Crater).
The locations of these sites are given in Figure 1. An ancient tumulus was built on top of the
entrance to the enclosure of Samar-West A. Radiocarbon dates of charcoal from within it
indicate that it was built during first half of the third millennium BCE. At Samar East a fourththird-millennium dwelling compound was built on top of the kite's enclosure. Microlithic flint
lunates found inside the enclosure of Samar-West B (Figure 4) are typical of fifth-fourthmillennium BCE cultures of this arid region. This new information, coupled with previous
dating of additional Arava sites (based on 14C, OSL and Chalcolithic pottery) and Sinai kites
(by 14C) manifest that the kites were constructed or used during the fifth-second millennia
BCE.
Further information could be gathered regarding the planning and construction of each kite.
We found that in the Samar kites, which are constructed on a plane, a massive ramp was built
to hide the enclosure from the driven game, creating a drop into the enclosure (Figure 5).
Excavation of the ramp revealed that its construction also involved cutting into bedrock soils
in order to create the necessary artificial 'topographic drop' at the apex of each trap. Most of
the construction stones were brought from nearby, and some very large ones required
significant efforts to move them (Figure 5).
Figure 5. The built ramp of Samar-West B kite, hiding the enclosure from the driven game.
Note the large boulders incorporated in the walls near the enclosure.
Figure 6. Depiction of a kite in a rock-drawing from the southern Sinai (courtesy of I.
Hershkovitz).
It seems that some of the kites located along migration routes were used to trap small
numbers of local herbivores, such as Dorcas gazelle (Gazella dorcas), onager (Equus
hemionus) and Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx). The massive stone constructions documented in
several kites indicate that they were designed to hunt large ungulates, such as onagers
(Figure 6). Thus, it appears that species ecology and herd size are among the main causes
that determined the location, size and construction of each kite.
Acknowledgements
We thank Tamar Orr-Gat, Reuven Yeshurun, Anna Avshalomov, Amnon Nahmias, David
Hadash and other students for their assistance in fieldwork. We are warmly grateful to Assaf
Holtzer and Hanan Ginat for their advice, and we thank the people of Kibutz Samar for their
friendliness and hospitality. The research was generously supported by the National
Geographic Society grant No. 8325-07.
References
BETTS, A.V.G. 1998. Dhuweilla: area survey, in A.V.G. Betts et al. (ed.) The Harra and the
Hammad: excavations and surveys in Eastern Jordan: 191-205. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic
Press.
HELMS, S. & A.V.G. BETTS. 1987. The desert "kites" of the Badiyat Esh-Sham and North
Arabia. Pal‫י‬orient 13: 41-67.
MESHEL, Z. 2000. Desert kites in Sinai and Southern Negev, in Z. Meshel (ed.) Sinai:
excavations and studies (British Archaeological report International Series 876): 121-42.
Oxford: Archaeopress.
MUSIL, A. 1928. The manners and customs of the Rwala Beduins. New York: American
Geographical Society.
Authors
(* Author for correspondence)
Guy Bar-Oz*
Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Haifa 31905, Israel (Email:
guybar@research.haifa.ac.il)
Uzi Avner
Ben-Gurion University & Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, Eilat 88133, Israel
Dan Malkinson
Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Haifa, Haifa 31905, Israel
Dani Nadel
Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Haifa 31905, Israel