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

LiveScience ^ | 14 Sept 2011 | Owen Jarus

[Palter]

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. [See gallery of wheel structures]

"In Jordan alone we've got stone-built structures that are far more numerous than (the) Nazca Lines, far more extensive in the area that they cover, and far older," said David Kennedy, a professor of classics and ancient history at the University of Western Australia.

Kennedy's new research, which will be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science, reveals that these wheels form part of a variety of stone landscapes. These include kites (stone structures used for funnelling and killing animals); pendants (lines of stone cairns that run from burials); and walls, mysterious structures that meander across the landscape for up to several hundred feet and have no apparent practical use.

His team's studies are part of a long-term aerial reconnaissance project that is looking at archaeological sites across Jordan.

[ApplegateRanch]

http://relicsoftheancients.com/Shasta%20Rock%20Line%20Pics.htm

When you need to clear a field, you have to move the rocks out of it; when you need a fence, you use the most cost effective durable materials: two problems with a single solution, field fences.

These are all over Northern California, and parts of Idaho, Nevada, and Oregon. Little to no materials for posts, let alone rails;; barb wire still some years in the future; cattle, sheep, and pig* grazing, plus dry-land grain farming needs all enhanced by removing the surface volcanic rocks that had rained down on the lands...what to do with it? Fence the fields.

Some have gates built here & there; others, it was a matter of unstacking to create a temporary opening, to drive animals from one grazing area to another.

In the 1950s, they were easily seen from roads, and were still in half decent repair; 3-4’ high. By now, from lack of upkeep, having been replaced with wire, or abandoned entirely, they are crumbling.

The picture is a fallen one, and is a poor example, but the clearest photo I could find. Better photos showing extent, but longer so less detailed, shots at the first link above.

*Pig grazing: From the late 19th Century, into the early 20th, pig herds were driven from the northern Sacramento Valley, into Oregon, and into the Sierra foothills, for summer & fall grazing; and back again for the winter & spring.

[SunkenCiv]

and in Ireland:

http://www.davidsanger.com/stockimages/4-900-868.sheep
http://www.davidsanger.com/stock/farm-animal
http://www.davidsanger.com/stockimages/4-900-870.sheep
http://www.davidsanger.com/stockimages/4-900-874.sheep

[bannie]

From where I sit, the Midwest is really EAST.

From the center of the States, I think the Midwest is Mideast.

[esquirette]

I have a kid at SEU. Lakeland, FL.

[colorado tanker]

From a blog:

They first gained some prominence during the 1920s. As Royal Air Force pilots flew airmail routes over Jordan, they noticed strange designs far below them. According to RAF Flight Lt. Percy Maitland, the stone structures were known among the locals as the "works of the old men."

[gleeaikin]

compound enclosures, that was my thought. I wonder if they have done any excavating on the ground to seek artifacts, burials, kitchen middens, etc.