What’s up with these mysterious stone rectangles in the Arabian desert? Archaeologists are now presenting new clues about the age, characteristics and possible purpose of the so-called “Mustatil”. According to a dating, the impressive building structures were built around 7000 years ago. It is possible that they had a ritual significance among the early cattle breeders who lived in the then still fertile area.
In the last ten years Saudi Arabia has developed into an archeology hotspot: Numerous traces of former cultures in this region have been discovered. They also include the enigmatic stone monuments in northwestern Saudi Arabia, which consist of huge rectangles. Because of this shape they got the name Mustatil – the Arabic name for rectangle. The structures became clear above all on satellite images. Since they were often overlaid by more recent structures, it was reasonable to assume that they are ancient – possibly even from the Neolithic. An international team of archaeologists has now devoted an investigation to the mysterious Mustatil buildings.
On the trail of mysterious structures
The scientists again analyzed satellite images, but also carried out field measurements on site and examined finds in the area of the Mustatil buildings. As they report, in the course of the study they were once again able to demonstrate how extremely common these structures are: They have identified more than one hundred new Mustatil buildings of various sizes on the southern edge of the Nefud Desert. You now join the numerous already known examples of these buildings that had previously been identified through evaluations of Google Earth images.
The on-site investigations showed that the Mustatil buildings usually consist of two large platforms that are connected by parallel longitudinal walls and sometimes extend over 600 meters in length. The long walls are very low, have no recognizable openings and are in different orientations in the landscape. As the researchers further report, it seems particularly surprising that hardly any other small archaeological finds, such as stone tools, were discovered in the vicinity of these monumental buildings. According to them, the evidence suggests that the Mustatil were not useful structures such as water reservoirs or animal enclosures.
“Mustatil” are among the oldest large structures in the world
The most important finding within the scope of the study, however, is the first indication of the time when the structures were created: A find of charcoal inside one of the platforms enabled radiocarbon dating. This trace of human activity and thus also the structures are therefore astonishingly old, more than 7000 years. So they were built more than two thousand years before the first pyramids were built in Egypt. The Mustatil are not the oldest buildings in the world, but the builders made them on a uniquely large scale for this early period in human history, the scientists emphasize.
So far, however, they can only speculate as to the purpose of the buildings. Evidence for this was provided by the discovery of a collection of animal bones that came from both wild animals and probably domestic cattle. In another Mustatil, the researchers also found a stone that was painted with a geometric pattern. “We assume that the Mustatil buildings were ritual sites where groups of people met for social activities. We don’t know what exactly they did with each other, ”says the first author of the study, Huw Groucutt from the Max Planck Institute for the History of Human History in Jena. “Perhaps the sites were used for animal sacrifices or celebrations,” says the scientist.
In the finding that several of these huge structures were sometimes placed next to each other, the researchers see an indication that the construction could possibly have had a meaning for the social connection among the people of the time. As they explain, 7000 years ago, rainfall in northern Arabia was significantly higher than it is today, so much of the region was green and covered with grass. Early pastoral peoples were able to live well with their herds in this environment, even if droughts were a constant risk to humans and animals. The research team’s hypothesis in this context is that the building of mustatiles was a kind of social mechanism that served to survive in this challenging landscape.
But many questions still remain open. By further examining these monumental contemporary witnesses, the scientists now want to gain further insight into the life of these mysterious early societies.
Source: Max Planck Institute for the History of Human History, specialist article: The Holocene, doi: 10.1177 / 0959683620950449