(from April 30)
The landscape is dotted with ancient mustatils, which are named after the Arabic word for a rectangle. More than 1000 have been documented and more are still being found. [AAKSA and Royal Commission for AlUla/Antiquity]
Posted on 08/24/2020 11:06:33 PM PDT by BenLurkin
The mustatils are giant stone monuments that are about 7,000-year- old. The Arabic name ‘mustatils,’ means rectangle.
These vast structures made of stone piled into rectangles, are some of the oldest large-scale structures in the world.
Mustalis were previously recognized from satellite imagery and as they were often covered by younger structures, it had been speculated that they might be ancient, perhaps extending back to the Neolithic.
Recent studies reveal new, interesting information that may shed light on the purpose of these massive stone monuments.
Dr. Huw Groucutt from the Max Planck Institutes for Chemical Ecology, the Science of Human History, and Biogeochemistry conducted together with an international team a thorough study of these enigmatic stone structures.
At one mustalis, Dr. Huw Groucutt and his team found animal bones, which included both wild animals and possibly domestic cattle, although it is possible that the latter are wild auroch. At another mustatil the team found a rock with a geometric pattern painted onto it.
Northern Arabia 7,000 years ago was very different to today. Rainfall was higher, so much of the area was covered by grassland and there were scattered lakes. Pastoralist groups thrived in this environment, yet it would have been a challenging place to live, with droughts a constant risk.
They may not be the oldest buildings in the world, but they are on a uniquely large scale for this early period, more than two thousand years before pyramids began to be constructed in Egypt.
Arabia, many ancient structures have received little attention, and therefore, megalithic structures of the region remain largely unknown. Recently, scientists discovered a 35-meter-long stone platform dated to 6,000 B.C. Such intriguing archaeological discoveries give us reason to say the Arabian Desert still holds many ancient secrets waiting to be revealed
(Excerpt) Read more at ancientpages.com ...
Those silly Arabs don’t use ‘u’ after ‘q’!.............
smile.
I think we may be on to a possible explanation. I’ve never heard of Quanats or Qanats.
But we have some sub irrigated pasture that operates like this. I’m asking myself if I could improve what we have with a few shafts.
There is a spring fed tank that we dug with a dozer 40 years ago, it has never been dry (no water ever runs into it, it seeps from the bottom, which is a shale deposit above a red hardpan.
They could have been used as fresh water sources.
Water from the ocean breezes condenses on the smooth surfaces every night and runs down into a collection area............
You can tell what the climate was like by looking at the layers of soil from each period. If there is silt, sand, clay, peat, etc...high organic content in a given layer implies a wetter climate supporting lots of plant life.
Yes, but dating is not always very accurate.
We had all kinds of precise descriptions (speculative) and scientists were sure they were correct, until we actually went there.
Yes, that was my first thought, but the qanats (channels) might be as good a speculation.
My first thought was if it was wetter back then, perhaps the area would flood once in awhile and these things were built to keep the people and animals and crops(?) from flooding out??
I think the garden of eden is a little farther down stream, but now underwater in the persian gulf. I actually got to go fishing in the gulf out from Kuwait city... few Miles out and it was only 20’ deep if that. I went to the city of Ur also... There had to have been wetter times for that place to have thrived. And when it dried out... The city died.
I have mixed feelings about what we understand about things that far back. But the bible gives lots of clues about some of it.
That is possible. But we just don’t know.
(from April 30)
The landscape is dotted with ancient mustatils, which are named after the Arabic word for a rectangle. More than 1000 have been documented and more are still being found. [AAKSA and Royal Commission for AlUla/Antiquity]
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
