Visible Only From Above, Mystifying 'Nazca Lines' Discovered in Mideast

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d1bf25f880fa.jpg[/atsimg]
Photo - "The giant stone structures form wheel shapes with spokes often radiating inside. Here a cluster of wheels in the Azraq Oasis."

Source - livescience.com

They stretch from Syria to Saudi Arabia, can be seen from the air but not the ground, and are virtually unknown to the public.

They are the Middle East's own version of the Nazca Lines — ancient "geolyphs," or drawings, that span deserts in southern Peru — and now, thanks to new satellite-mapping technologies, and an aerial photography program in Jordan, researchers are discovering more of them than ever before. They number well into the thousands.

Referred to by archaeologists as "wheels," these stone structures have a wide variety of designs, with a common one being a circle with spokes radiating inside. Researchers believe that they date back to antiquity, at least 2,000 years ago. They are often found on lava fields and range from 82 feet to 230 feet (25 meters to 70 meters) across.

Can't say I like this headline, these structures appear to have more going on than strictly as art. Unlike the Nazca lines which appear to be symbolic and only scratched into the surface, with no real utilitarian purpose, these were built out of stone and may have incorporated more than one use, some have cairns built into them, and any of them would have been useful as paddocks for animals. They consider these to be as ancient as 9,000 years to as recent as 2,000 years ago. 9,000 years ago is right about the advent of agriculture and domestication of animals in some regions of the Mideast/Turkey. Still, chalk up another discovery due to satellite imagery.

They're what you get when cattle or other large animals gather around a water hole that is drying up. Unless you want to attribute sophisticated astronomical knowledge to cows.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


They dont look like glyphs to me but more like foundations from a lost ancient civilization. Here are some pics of what they are claiming to be over 100 000 years old ruins in Africa. Either way I think the similarities from "middle east Nazca lines" and the African settlements are uncanny. Definate link between the cultures.

Here is a link to the African finds
viewzone2.com...

They were for holding animals. horses. cattle and sheep have a very hard time walking across loose rocks.
goats have little problem. The rocks on the ground act like cattle guards across roads. The animals can not walk across.

This is what you get when city folk see something they don't understand.
Us hillbillies see thing different

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


yeah they seem natural to me
still cool tho

Originally posted by ANNED
They were for holding animals. horses. cattle and sheep have a very hard time walking across loose rocks.
goats have little problem. The rocks on the ground act like cattle guards across roads. The animals can not walk across.

I wasn't thinking of that because of the spokes, but I guess you'd want to keep them relatively separated if they were owned by different people or you didn't want them breeding randomly. But I can see where you're probably right. I'm not sure about those 100,000 old dates for some of them, though. People haven't been around that long. Those could be water hole marks.

Anyway, we agree they have to do with cattle, and not ancient civilizations.

Oh come on, compare the Nazca Lines with those things is ridiculous. I agree those are what is left of circles used to keep goats or sheeps together.

Here is another picture from the recent discovery in Turkey. They are not natural and are made out of stones.
Here is the image from africa

Very very similar. We used to build small settlements like this. The terrain in turkey is nothing but small rocks. this limits the way things can be built

These definitely have a much stronger resemblance to those in Africa, which have been used for animal corrals since the dawn of man.

The circular nature would be the most efficient way to enclose the greatest area possible for the least amount of material and work, it's a shape that has been used for eons by primitive cultures as corrals and paddocks.

The "spokes"might have served to separate the males/females of a herd or for animal husbandry, you don't want to let your herd get mixed then.

But that still doesn't rule out other uses or symbolic / religious associations. Especially for people transitioning from nomadic hunter-gatherers to semi-nomadic to agrarian cultures, their herds and built stone structures protecting them most have been among their most important and cherished possessions.

reply to post by ANNED


I would agree, they look like they are enclosures for animals. They don't appear to be mimicking animals like the Nazca Lines.

I dont think they were all for animals. They were most likley homes for families or groups. Each circle has rooms and common areas. They are close and set up like traditional villages.

This is an old illustration of an Africal Kraal (which the word Corral comes from)

panthernewsletter1.files.wordpress.com...

And this is an image of a Bronze age settlement from above

www.surprising-sy.com...

Both very similar to the OPs picks. so the argument could swing both ways.

Very interesting! Is there any statement about how large these structures are?

From the article they range from 25 to 70 meters, but looking at similar stone corrals/kralls and kites from nearby regions they vary widely in size. The authors don't make any mention of finding bones or other artifacts to indicate whether these were just corrals (or homes), and they don't really resemble the "kites" found in neighboring regions like Syria, which would usually have long "arms" to funnel animals in towards a center. These have such a striking resemblance to the African kralls that one would be hard pressed not to conclude they have a similar function. Like those, these have a very organic and fluid shape, even their grouping seems to indicate they belonged to a settlement or extended tribe, as opposed to being built for a religious reason. The fact these are so widespread over the Mideast probably indicates just how far spread this "technology" traveled with contact and trade among various tribes.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer

burrowing animal roots?
possibly covered by sand that was recently taken away by erosion or something

Very interesting, my first impression is that they are a type of kraal as noted above h;woever in the body of document at the first link:

The researchers have noted that the wheels are often found on top of kites, which date as far back as 9,000 years, but never vice versa. "That suggests that wheels are more recent than the kites," Kennedy said.

Insufficient information from the source but I'll speculate a bit.

I'd say they are man made disturbances of the ground the purpose of which has changed over time; with the wiping out - and drying out of the area wild game ceased to be important and domesticate animals came into use and some may have been used for tombs. Good place for some excavation after a geophysical study and a LSRS (Large scale regional survey) probably using a mix of intensive survey and extensive survey, would need a good ethnographic study too.

I wonder what rock art one might find - hey Byrd this might be up your alley.

Oh this type of story use to be called a dangle - a public notice to allow the search for funding to begin before any published studies have occurred . I would suspect that a European team may have looked a these in the late 19th century when Europeans; especially the French, Germans and Swiss were all over this region.

Ah the search for a musty report amongst volumes of research written in high German....yetch.

I would say its for animals. Its nothing more than a stone fence. I don't think people have noticed there four foot tall walls.

Am I the only one who thinks if it is for animals where the hell are the entrances !?

I know a thing or two about animals corrals and I know that there has to be a way in and a way
out?

these aren't animal corrals it even says in the article they have no apparent purpose

Are they certain on the age? These do look like they are for animals but they also look like they are ancient. I suspect are civilization goes back further than we known. Cool find.

I would be certain they serve only one purpose.

Ask any Bedouin. They like flat places to pitch a tent.