Desert Kites: Ancient Stone Traps Revealed by Google Earth

Historian David Kennedy used Google Earth to scan Saudi Arabia in 2011 and discovered vast stone traps that were previously unknown.

The high-resolution imagery revealed an extraordinary archaeological landscape with stone structures that were barely visible from ground level but strikingly clear from above.

Among the structures were enormous formations designed to channel animals across the desert, known as 'desert kites.'

Kennedy and archaeologist M.C. Bishop found 1,977 archaeological structures in a high-resolution region east of Jeddah, including stone circles, cairns, and pendants made from black basalt.