Jibal Thumamah Kite Cluster – Qassim Desert
Thumamah Kites · Qassim Badia Kites
Late Neolithic to Chalcolithic·Najd Late Neolithic·🇸🇦 Qassim Region, Jibal Thumamah ridge, Nafud fringe, Saudi Arabia
About
About Jibal Thumamah Kite Cluster – Qassim Desert
Twenty-four desert kites along the limestone scarp of Jibal Thumamah, the easternmost kite cluster known in Arabia, 400 km east of the main Hejaz harraat. Walls are built of lacustrine limestone and sandstone slabs (0.3 m high) forming 18–28 m subcircular pits with 80–220 m funnels opening onto the Nafud sand sea. Dating to 6000–3500 BCE via Najd Neolithic lithics, the cluster proves desert kites reached the Arabian interior's sand-sea margin. Survey by KACST 2018–2021 documented heavy deflation but intact pit rings; faunal remains include onager and ostrich eggshell.
Why it mattersEasternmost kite province limit at Nafud sand-sea edge.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Onager driving techniques
Theories
- 01Sand-sea margin trap
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.6000 – 3500 BCE
- Period
- Late Neolithic to Chalcolithic
- Culture
- Najd Late Neolithic
- Builders
- Qassim interior hunter-pastoralists
- Purpose
- Desert game interception at Nafud ecotone
- Abandoned
- c.3000 BCE
- Rediscovered
- 2018 KACST sand-sea margin survey
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
6000 BCE
Initial scarp kites
2021
KACST maps 24 kites
On the ground
Structures & features
25.8800° N · 45.3800° E · 680 m · 2 mapped features
Scarp-Edge Pit JT-5
geoglyph22-m pit at limestone scarp brink
25.8810° N · 45.3810° EFunnel JT-12
earthwork220-m funnel to sand plain
25.8750° N · 45.3750° E