Aerial Images Shed Light on Middle East Stone Circles

Independent News Link

New aerial images are beginning to shed some light on the mystery surrounding large stone circles in the Middle East that have confounded archaeologists for decades.

The pictures, taken by the Aerial Photographic Archive for Archaeology in the Middle East (APAAME), show 11 ancient “Big Circles” each up to 400m in diameter in the desert landscape of Jordan.

Although they were first spotted by aircraft early last century, there has been very little focused research on the structures believed to date back at least 2,000 years.

Speaking to Live Science, researcher David Kennedy said their similarity was “too close to be a coincidence” however they’re actual purpose remains unknown.

It is hoped analysis of these new images, released on Friday, could help to reveal the reason behind their design and creation.

Each circle was built with a low stone wall just a few feet high. They originally contained no openings so people would have had to jump the wall to enter inside.

Archaeologists have already ruled out their use as a corral to fence in herds of animals because of their low walls.

“The circles would not have been hard to build,” according to Mr Kennedy, co-director of APAAME. “They were constructed mainly with local rocks, and a dozen people working hard could potentially complete a big circle in a week.”

He said the larger ones would have required at least one “architect” who might have tied a long rope to a post and walked in a circle, marking the ground as they went.

This method, he added, would explain the glitches in the circles where the land was uneven.

Although analysis of the aerial images will help archaeologists to better understand the Big Circles, Mr Kennedy said on-site excavations were needed in order to finally solve the mystery.

While I was aware of these circles here and found over the rest of the world it still fascinates me how cultures seemingly cut off from one another all were doing the same thing. The pyramids are a great example of this. I am left wondering now the purpose of these structures for they seem quite different from the likes of 'Stonehenge' which had obvious astrological ties, these do not seem to fit that category. Could they just be early examples of these more modern structures or something else all together.

Just found this interesting on a rainy Saturday morning, AB

www.abovetopsecret.com...

really cool but already posted the other day

I like the images you've posted though, reminds me a bit of gobekli (because of the weird layout) and a bit like those ruins in south africa that also don't have entrances

Lines on a map or lines drawn in the sand.

This here is Korgs property. You must belong, be invited, apply for permission to cross here.
Ancient clans, tribal, nationalistic fervor?

Owning the land…

Native Americans couldn't understand the white mans insistence on owning everything. Paul Hogan in, Crocodile Dundee said the same thing. The native tribes don't concern themselves who owns those rocks over there. "They were here long before we were and will be there long after we're gone. No use arguing who owns them."

a reply to: AnteBellum

Some really great pictures!

It's fascinating to me to see our world from high above....it makes me think history might actually be quite different than what we are being told. I'm finding it hard to believe the world was inhabited by little 'pockets' of civilization that had no contact with each other.

a reply to: AnteBellum

Anyone know what this is called? Like the study of...archeology? Cartography? I LOVE to look at maps and pictures of the earth. I'm like obsessed with this game GeoGuesser geoguessr.com...

I would like to pursue this a lot farther, can you help?

Look like property lines to me....also looks like rivers or streams got hrough or used to go through most of them. Probably made farming, crops, bathing, etc ,... easier with their own water supply.

I'm sure some of the smaller ones are animal enclosures. They're called Kraals.

a reply to: EnigmaAgent

The small ones are the "Azraq wheels" and they're considerably different. The "Big Circles" are about 6x as large as the largest of the Azraq wheels. They're also formed with a higher degree of precision and lack any internal spokes/partitions. The "Big Circles" are also lacking any sort of entrance. Check out the thread I started about these the other day.

Some of them are desert kites
en.wikipedia.org...