A recent study published in the journal PLOS ONE, It describes in detail the earliest known large-scale plans of man-made megastructures. Estimated to be 7,000-8,000 years old, these engravings depict desert kites, massive structures used to catch animals. The ability to represent large areas on a small two-dimensional surface represents a significant leap forward in intellectual behavior and enriches our understanding of the conceptualization and construction of these kites.

Desert kites were first seen by airplanes in the 1920s. These are complex archaeological structures with walls up to 5 km long that turn into an enclosure to trap animals trapped in pits. Such structures can only be seen from the air as a whole, but this requires a representation of the space that is not currently visible.

Rémy Crassard of the CNRS, University of Lyon, and colleagues reported two engravings representing kites in Jordan and Saudi Arabia. In Jordan, there are eight kites in the Jibal al-Khasabiya area. A stone was found nearby, with an image carved with stone tools 80 cm long and 32 cm wide, dating to around 7,000 years ago. Zebel al-Ziliyat in Saudi Arabia has two pairs of visible kites 3.5 km apart. A large engraving 382 cm long and 235 cm wide was excavated here, and the image was reportedly carved rather than carved by hand pickaxes. It has been dated to about 8,000 years ago.

Designers will need such plans, as the entire layout cannot be understood without an aerial view. Until now, evidence of plans for large structures could be seen in rough drawings, but these designs are extremely accurate.

Although human structures have altered natural areas for thousands of years, few plans or maps exist before the period of the written civilizations of Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. These examples are the earliest known scaling plans in human history.

The authors add: “Our work reports the earliest scaling plans in human history. Engravings dating to 8,000 to 9,000 years ago have been discovered in Jordan and Saudi Arabia. They depict nearby desert kites, man-made megastructures used to catch wild animals. Human structures have been natural for thousands of years.” Although it has changed areas, there are few plans or maps from before the period of the written civilizations of Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. The ability to transfer a large area to a small two-dimensional surface is an important milestone in intelligent behavior. Such structures can only be seen as a whole from the air. , but this requires representation of space in a way that is not currently visible.” Source