This network of megalithic structures is perhaps the greatest mystery of the Arabian Peninsula. Their existence became known thanks to satellite images (Google Earth) placed in free access.
The Saudi Arabian authorities, even after the discovery of these megalithic structures, were categorically against their research, and only in 2017, they gave permission to the only scientist, David Kennedy, who devoted a huge amount of time to studying and detecting these structures from satellite images - to study them flying over them. by helicopter. Ground-based research has been banned.
"They're just amazing," said Dr. Kennedy, a recently retired University of Western Australia. "From a distance of 150 meters, you can see important structural details that are not visible in the fuzzy image in Google Earth."
Since 1997, Dr. Kennedy has studied similar structures in neighboring Jordan from earth and sky. Many of the stone figures in both countries are found in basalt fields. Dry lava flows are common in the fields, writhing and whirling like snakes gliding across a dark landscape.
In Saudi Arabia, he surveyed 200 sites from the air in the Harrat-Khaybar and Harrat-Uvayrid regions. The structures he observed varied in shape and size, which he describes as gates, kites, triangles, bull's eyes, and keyholes.
Of the 400 structures that he describes as "gates" that he identified on Google Earth, Dr. Kennedy examined about 40 from a helicopter and found that the structures were not randomly constructed.
“We immediately realized that they are much more complex than they appear in Google Earth,” said Dr. Kennedy. They weren't just piles of stone.
Rather, each long rod consisted of two parallel rows of flat slabs placed at the edges facing each other, with small stones filling the space between them.
“They are much more complicated than I thought,” he said.
Some gates were over 300 meters long and 80 meters wide. He believes that the oldest of them is about 9000 years old.
Kennedy, PhD, said he was surprised at how straight the lines of the triangles and keyholes were, as if the people who created them were choosing certain flat stones rather than random stones.
Each triangle was isosceles and looked like it was pointing at something. Sometimes they were directed "at the target", which was at a distance of 4 or 45 meters.
There were also several keyhole structures, sometimes lined up. The heads of the keyholes were almost always almost perfect circles, and the walls were about 1 meter high.
Kennedy was invited by Amr Al-Madani, chief executive officer of the Royal Commission for Al-Ula Province, which was established to protect some of the country's geological, historical and archaeological sites.
“Kennedy spent many years studying Google Earth images and we were able to bring him closer to these places,” said Mr. AlMadani, who joined Dr. Kennedy in a helicopter, describing the experience as exciting.
You can look at the location of these megaliths at the coordinates: 23.1198246, 48.8484398 where a huge number of similar ancient structures are scattered throughout the desert.
It is worth noting the fact that despite the fact that the authorities of Saudi Arabia prohibit the study of these ancient megaliths directly from the ground, judging by the satellite images, the study and excavation of these megaliths are carried out by the authorities of Saudi Arabia or by "black archaeologists" which can be judged by the traces the work of heavy machinery and many car tracks in the immediate vicinity of these ancient structures.
One question remains - why the authorities of Saudi Arabia prevent the scientists of the world from studying these ancient structures, which are at least 9000 years old and which could tell a lot about the secrets of ancient civilizations that existed on the Arabian Peninsula.
