Wadi Sirhan Mustatil Corridor (Al-Jawf Depression)
Sirhan Basin Mustatil Chain · Jawf-Wadi Sirhan Desert Shrines
Late Neolithic (Northern Arabian pastoral)·Wadi Sirhan Neolithic·🇸🇦 Al-Jawf Province, Wadi Sirhan depression (525 m floor), Saudi Arabia
About
About Wadi Sirhan Mustatil Corridor (Al-Jawf Depression)
Broad lowland mustatil corridor (560 m, 29°48′11″N 39°52′56″E Dumat al-Jandal TM Geo 29.803206,39.882216 Wadi Sirhan runs 140 km from Azraq to Jawf) along the central topographic depression of Wadi Sirhan (Northwest-Southeast 500-600 m) between Western Widyan 900-1100 m and Basalt Plateau 800-900 m (220 km to Jebel Druze). 33 mustatils 30-380 m line the depression rims, intermixing with desert kites and wheels (Rees 1929 Azraq-Sirhan corridor). Unlike Hisma sandstone mustatils, here limestone and basalt mix. Depressions 300 km to Al-Jawf from Azraq; trade route Esarhaddon 7th c BCE Bazu/Khazu campaign area. Threatened by Sirhan pivot irrigation.
Why it mattersLongest mustatil-kite-wheels palimpsest, 300 km corridor linking two national basins.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Mustatil-kite contemporaneity
Theories
- 01Trans-Arabian trade shrine corridor
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.6000-5400 BCE
- Period
- Late Neolithic (Northern Arabian pastoral)
- Culture
- Wadi Sirhan Neolithic
- Builders
- Sirhan depression pastoralists
- Purpose
- Inter-basin ritual corridor linking Jordan-Azraq to Jawf oases
- Abandoned
- c.5400 BCE
- Rediscovered
- 2002 Wadi Sirhan Project reconnaissance; 2022 Sirhan mustatil GIS
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
2002
Wadi Hudruj-Jabal Tharwa survey
2022
33-mustatil corridor mapped
On the ground
Structures & features
29.8000° N · 39.8800° E · 560 m · 2 mapped features
Wadi Sirhan Central Mustatil
mustatil380-m mustatil on depression rim
29.8020° N · 39.8820° EHudruj Mixed Kite-Mustatil Pair
mustatilAdjacent 120-m kite and 90-m mustatil palimpsest
29.7980° N · 39.8780° E