Extremely eye news reporter Zhang Yang
On Feb. 22, a team of Jordanian and French archaeologists said they had found a shrine about 9,000 years old inside a remote Neolithic site in Jordan's eastern desert.
Image source: Associated Press
According to the Associated Press, the ceremonial complex was discovered in a Neolithic camp near a large structure known as the "Desert Kite, or a large trap believed to be used to keep wild gazelles in captivity for slaughter.
This trap consists of two or more feldspar walls that meet toward a paddock and are scattered throughout the deserts of the Middle East.
Abu Aziza, a Jordanian archaeologist who co-director of the project, said: "This site is unique and although it is 9,000 years old, almost everything is intact. ”
Inside the temple are two standing stones inscribed with anthropomorphic images, one of which is inscribed with a representative of the "desert kite", and there is also an altar, fireplace, sea shell and gazelle trap miniature model.
Two standing stones inside the temple (Image: Associated Press)
The researchers said in a statement that the temple "provides a whole new perspective for the study of Neolithic hieroglyphs, artistic expressions and spiritual culture." ”
The statement added that the location's proximity to the trap indicates that the residents here are full-time hunters, and that the trap is "their center of culture, economy and life in this marginal area."
The team, which includes archaeologists from Al Hussein Bintalal University in Jordan and the French Institute of Near Eastern Research, was excavated in 2021.