砂漠に９千年前の祭祀場　ヨルダンで発見

【アンマンＡＦＰ＝時事】ヨルダン南東部の砂漠の奥深くにある世界最古とされる大型人造構造物の近くで、９０００年前の新石器時代の祭祀（さいし）場が見つかった。（写真はヨルダン南東部で発掘された新石器時代の遺跡。ヨルダン考古庁提供）
　祭祀場は、ガゼル猟師が使用していたもので、昨年１０月にフランスとヨルダンの共同チーム「南東バディア考古学プロジェクト（ＳＥＢＡＰ）」が発見。ＳＥＢＡＰは「壮大で前例のない発見」としている。
　遺跡からは、石像や祭壇、動物の小像、火打ち石、並べて置かれた海洋生物の化石約１５０点のほか、「砂漠の凧（たこ）」と呼ばれる大規模なわなのミニチュア模型が発掘された。「カイト・サイト」とも呼ばれるこのわなは、凧状に立てられた長い壁からなり、猟師はこれを使いガゼルを囲いや穴に追い込んでいた。祭祀場は、狩りの成功祈念に使われていたとみられている。
　ＳＥＢＡＰによると、祭祀場の近くにあるカイト・サイトは、これまで発見された中で世界最古の大型人造構造物だという。サウジアラビア、シリア、トルコ、カザフスタンの砂漠でも、複数の岩壁から成る同様の構造物が見つかっており、中には数キロの長さのものもある。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/02/24-11:46）

Archaeologists deep in the Jordanian desert have discovered a 9,000-year-old ritualistic complex near what is thought to be the earliest known large human-built structure worldwide.
The Stone Age shrine site, excavated last year, was used by gazelle hunters and features carved stone figures, an altar and a miniature model of a large-scale hunting trap.
The giant game traps the model represents -- so-called desert kites -- were made of long walls that converge to corral running gazelles into enclosures or holes for slaughter.
Similar structures of two or more stone walls, some several kilometres (miles) long, have been found in deserts across Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey and Kazakhstan.
The Neolithic-era ritual site was discovered inside a larger campsite last October by a joint French-Jordanian team called the South Eastern Badia Archaeological Project.
The nearby desert kites in Jibal al-Khashabiyeh are the earliest large-scale human built structures worldwide known to date, said a statement by the SEBA Project.
It hailed the spectacular and unprecedented discovery of the ritualistic site, believed to date to about 7000 BC.
It featured two steles with anthropomorphic features, the taller one 1.12 metres high, other artefacts including animal figurines, flints, and some 150 arranged marine fossils.
The wider, decade-old research project aims to study the first pastoral nomadic societies, as well as the evolution of specialised subsistence strategies.
The desert kites suggest extremely sophisticated mass hunting strategies, unexpected in such an early timeframe, said the project's statement.
The sacral symbolism was most likely meant to invoke the supranatural forces for successful hunts and abundance of prey to capture, it said.
The teams of researchers have also found campsites with circular dwellings and large numbers of gazelle bones.
The project is a collaboration of Jordan's Al Hussein Bin Talal University and the French Institute of the Near East.
French ambassador Veronique Vouland-Aneini hailed the outcome for both the scientific world and Jordan, saying it provides us with a priceless testimony of the historical life in the Middle East, its traditions and rituals.