Recent Google Earth Imagery' title='Recent Google Earth Imagery' />Google Earth Reveals Hundreds of Ancient Stone Gates in Saudi Arabia. From Popular Mechanics. David Kennedy is an archeologist at the University of Western Australia. For twenty years, hes flown planes above Jordan and other Middle Eastern countries, spotting ancient, human made stone structures that sprawl across the countrys lava field, known as the harrat. Bluecut2Before.jpg' alt='Recent Google Earth Maps' title='Recent Google Earth Maps' />Satellite images have revealed mysterious, ancient stone structures in Saudi Arabian lava fields. Google Earth VR lets you explore the world from totally new perspectives in virtual reality. Stroll the streets of Tokyo, soar over the Grand Canyon, or walk around. I have had many requests over the years to add a USGS topographic Map overlay without the map borders. This is a huge project and I have finally decided to move. Google Earth for mobile enables you to explore the globe with a swipe of your finger. Fly through 3D cities like London, Tokyo and Rome. Dive in to view the world at. These structures, mostly referred to as kites, were built somewhere between 2,0. Bedouins. The kites were probably hunting tools, areas where animals like gazelles could be herded to make them easier to kill. For Kennedy, flying over neighboring countries has not always been as easy. Saudi Arabia in particular would never approve his missions, but the harrat from Jordan extends into the region. Call Of Duty 4 Serial The Pirate Bay. Thus, the ancient structures in Saudi Arabia remained a mystery to scientists until the advent of Google Earth, when satellites began photographing the landscape. Around that time, Dr. Abdullah Al Saeed, an amateur Saudi Arabian archeologist, began examining three foot high rock walls in the Harrat Khaybar lava field. When he saw them from the air on Google Earth, he realized something he couldnt see from the ground. When I saw the updated images of Harrat Khaybar from Google Earth, I was literally stunned and could not sleep that night, Dr. Al Saeed told the New York Times. Flying like a bird all over the Harrat from one enigmatic structure to another How come we passed by these structures without appreciating their design The images taken by Dr. Al Saeed eventually made their way back to Kennedy. The structures, which are being called gates due to their shape, dont have an obvious use or purpose. They range from several hundred feet long to over a thousand feet long, and some of the end sections are thirty feet thick. Kennedy and other archeologists are still stumped as to why ancient cultures may have built the gates. They dont look like funerary, for disposing of dead bodies. They dont look like structures where people lived, and they dont look like animal traps, Kennedy told the Times. I dont know what they are. In the last decade, Kennedy has cataloged 4. His next goal is to date them, and he believes they may be even older than the kites. He hopes that public interest in the structures will help his team locate more of them in satellite imagery. There are many other features that have only recently been understood as forming classes of prehistoric geoglyphs that were widespread in an area thought to be very barren and devoid of human impact, Stephan Kempe, a former professor of physical geology at Germanys Technische Universitt Darmstadt, told the Times. Though the area is bleak and deserted today, its possible that at the time of the gates building the climate was very different. GeotaggedPhoto.jpg' alt='Recent Google Earth Map' title='Recent Google Earth Map' />Its hard to know why people so long ago would have constructed structures like these, but seeing them is the first step to figuring it out. Source The New York Times. You Might Also Like.