Thousands of Tombs in Saudi Desert Spotted From Space

[L. Coyote]

Source: livescience.com 15 February 2011 Time: 12:08 PM ET

Little is known about the archaeology of Saudi Arabia, as the government has historically forbid aerial photographs of the landscape and religious sensitivities have made access tricky. But Google Earth is changing that. Satellite images available via the Web-based 3-D map program show that large portions of the country hold a wealth of archaeological remains that predate Islam and may be several thousand years old.

Researchers recently discovered nearly 2,000 tombs by peering through one high-resolution "window" at a rocky lava field east of the city of Jeddah — all without having to set foot in the Saudi desert.

Judging by the sheer number of stone ruins identified in Saudi Arabia, as well as in other research in Jordan, there may well be a million such sites

Read more: http://www.livescience.com/12864-google-earth-saudi-archaeology-tombs.html

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They may not all be tombs, of course. Some are long lines, stone circles, triangles, and more. Some are old corrals, animal catchments, etc. They are intriguing and point to a Neolithic population in what is now a desert.

Go to this coordinate in Google Earth and follow the placemark link: 22.6007N 40.1142E

Ancient Monuments Placemarks
http://jqjacobs.net/archaeo/sites/

[Judi Lynn]

1. Amazing. Thank you. Rec. n/t

[bergie321]

2. The new 3D

Google Maps are awesome. I have wasted several hours "flying" through cities.

[Lucinda]

12. Great. Now I have another reason to avoid things I should be doing.

Never occurred to me to do that! :toast:

[The abyss]

3. Fascinating! Thanks for posting

Recommend

[Mugweed]

4. The Saudi government should be overthrown

[madrchsod]

5. there are treasures under the sands that could rewrite..

the history of the middle east. remember the land was`t always a desert.

[Lucinda]

11. My thoughts too

:hi:

[bread_and_roses]

6. fascinating and wonderful - thank you!

I have loved reading about archeology since I was a child - literally. Hope I'm around to see some of these excavated some day.

[Major Hogwash]

7. They should grant access to explore the desert.

Experts could learn so much more about the country, the continent, and the planet that way.

[kickysnana]

8. I see dead people? Where's Ben Laden?

[theHandpuppet]

9. They can't handle the truth

"Juris Zarins, an archaeologist who worked in Saudi Arabia for 15 years and led parts of the national survey, suggests religious sensitivities play a role in the government’s limitations on archaeology . 'They don’t want people fooling around with prehistory because it contradicts the Koran — any more than fundamentalist Christians want anyone to say anything is older than six thousand years,' Zarins told LiveScience."

[hunter]

10. You sneer, until they find a magic lamp...

... and a Blue Genie that sounds a lot like Robin Williams appears.

Or God forbid, Jafar!

wikipedia

[L. Coyote]

16. The truth might reveal the wisdom of their "prophet" and support his greatness.

Just saying, there is this factor to consider also. But, usually, new faiths usurp old wisdom.

[Lucinda]

13. Very cool!

Thank you for the links!

[Princess Turandot]

14. You might find this post on the GE Community Forum interesting..

http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1250382

A year and a half ago, the member found over 3,000 structures in East Africa and on the Arabian peninsula and uploaded the data to the forum, which is one of Google's primary websites for GE users to share content. (It might be the source of the placemark you are referring to.)

[L. Coyote]

17. Yes, that one is the opne I pointed too. What a large KMZ has been amassed.

I found it interesting to do a fly over and watch for GE Community placemarks on hilltops. Those are more interesting than all the animal catchments, etc. Also, scroll thru the lines placemarks in that .kmz and not the ones with long distances.

[flying rabbit]

15. I love this stuff!!

thanks for the thread!

[xchrom]

18. recommend