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Stars and lines engraved in rocks on the Arabian Peninsula may represent nearby hunting traps, making these carvings the first scale-plan diagrams in human history, according to a new study that reveals humans’ sophisticated understanding of space around 8,000 years ago.

Archaeologists first noticed these structures, known as desert kites, about 100 years ago, when aerial photography began taking off with airplanes. Kites are large areas of land bordered by low stone walls, sometimes with pits scattered on the inside near the edges. Found primarily in the Middle East and Central Asia, kites are thought to have functioned like pens or traps for animals. Hunters would herd animals, like gazelle, into the kite through a long, narrow passage, where the game would be unable to escape the walls or the pits, making them easier to kill. 

Because of their massive size — averaging close to the square footage of two football fields — kites cannot be seen in their entirety from the ground. But the advent of publicly available, high-resolution satellite images, such as those from Google Earth, has jump-started the study of desert kites in the past decade.

An aerial view of a desert kite from Jebel az-Zilliyat, Saudi Arabia. (Image credit: O. Barge/CNRS)

The recent discovery of architectural-like designs engraved in rocks in Jordan and Saudi Arabia has revealed how Neolithic humans may have planned these “mega-traps,” according to a new study, published Wednesday (May 17) in the journal PLOS One (opens in new tab) .

Related: 7,000-year-old cult site in Saudi Arabia was filled with human remains and animal bones

The study authors made mathematical calculations to compare the rock-cut kite diagrams with the shape and dimensions of known kites. Their first example was an engraved limestone monolith from the archaeological site of Jibal al-Khashabiyeh in Jordan. The nearly 3-foot-tall (80 centimeters) stone provided a good canvas for prehistoric people, who carved long, kite-looking lines that drove animals into a star-shaped enclosure, which has eight cup-shaped depressions that represent the pit traps. The stone has different carving techniques, but it’s unknown if they represent the work of one person or several people, study first author Rémy Crassard (opens in new tab) , an archaeologist at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS),  told Live Science in an email. 

An excavated pit-trap from a desert kite in Jibal al-Khashabiyeh, Jordan.  (Image credit: SEBAP & O. Barge/CNRS)

The second example, from Wadi az-Zilliyat in Saudi Arabia, shows two kites carved into an enormous sandstone boulder that’s over 12 feet tall and nearly 8 feet across (about 4 by 2 meters). Although made in a different style than the Jordan one, the Saudi Arabia kite diagram also depicts driving lines, a star-shaped enclosure and six cup marks at the ends of the points. 

Kites are notoriously difficult to date because they are arrangements of rocks and pits, meaning they don’t usually have organic material that’s testable with radiocarbon dating. But based on comparisons with neighboring kites associated with sediments and organic remains, the team estimates that these two sites date to about 8,000 years ago, around the end of the Neolithic period in Arabia.Image 1 of 2A drawing of a projected view of the kites’ representation showing legible and unclear engravings, with a colored restitution of the topography of the boulder surface, from Jebel az-Zilliyat, Saudi Arabia. (Image credit: Crassard et al. 2023 PLOS One) The engraved boulder from Jebel az-Zilliyat, Saudi Arabia, depicting two desert kites. (Image credit: Crassard et al. 2023 PLOS One)

Crassard and colleagues with the Globalkites Project (opens in new tab) then quantitatively compared the rock-cut diagrams with dozens of plans of known kites through geographical graph modeling. Mathematical comparisons of the engravings with documented kites revealed similarity scores — the diagram from Jordan was found to be most similar to a kite located 1.4 miles (2.3 kilometers) away, while the diagram from Saudi Arabia was most similar to a kite 10 miles (16.3 km) away and very close in appearance to another one 0.87 mile (1.4 km) away. 

“The engravings are surprisingly realistic and accurate, and are moreover to scale, as observed by the geometric graph-based assessment of shape similarity,” the authors wrote in the study. “These examples of kite representations are thus the oldest known architectural plans to scale in human history.”

The team theorized that a group of people preparing for a hunting activity might have studied and discussed the plan of an already-built kite, which might have included coordinating the number and position of the hunters and anticipating the animals’ actions ahead of the event. It’s also possible that a diagram like this was used to construct the kite in the first place. In either case, the fact that humans were creating a link between physical space as seen from above and graphical representation is an important development in abstract thought and symbolic representation, the researchers suggested in their study.Related stories—’Almost intact’ shrine found in Jordanian desert is 9,000 years old

—Massive stone structures in Saudi Arabia may be some of oldest monuments in the world

—Arabia was ‘cornerstone’ in early human migrations out of Africa, study suggests

Jens Notroff (opens in new tab) , a Neolithic archaeologist at the German Archaeological Institute who was not involved in this research, told Live Science in an email that “the discovery of this specific type of schematic rock art already is an absolutely fascinating addition to our now growing understanding of these Neolithic desert kites and their obviously complex layout within the landscape.” Notroff also said “the most stunning insight for me personally is the degree of abstraction — they represent a view none of those participating in construction and use of these desert kites could easily reproduce from their own visual experience.”

Crassard and colleagues are continuing their work on desert kites through the Globalkites Project. Although “these engravings are the oldest known evidence of at-scale plans,” Crassard said, it is possible that people created similar diagrams in less-permanent material, such as by drawing them in dirt. 

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Kia’s electric van breaks the Guinness World Record, driving 430+ miles carrying a full load

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Kia's electric van breaks the Guinness World Record, driving 430+ miles carrying a full load

Kia’s electric van, the PV5, set a new Guinness World Record after driving over 430 miles on a single charge… with its max payload.

Kia’s electric van sets a new Guinness World Record

Who said electric vans couldn’t get the job done? Kia’s electric van just broke the Guinness World Record for the greatest distance travelled by a light-duty battery-powered electric van with maximum payload.

Powered by a 71.2 kWh battery, the Kia PV5 Cargo drove 430.84 miles (693.38 km) on a single charge. Even more impressive, it was carrying a full load. The electric van lasted nearly two days, covering 22 hours and 30 minutes of driving without charging.

Kia’s record-breaking run took place on September 30, 2025, in Frankfurt, Germany, using an unmodified PV5 Cargo L2H1 model.

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The route was specifically designed to replicate real-world scenarios. Kia said the electric van covered over 36 miles (58.2 km) in the city, navigating traffic lights, intersections, and roundabouts, with typical city traffic. It also achieved an elevation gain of about 1,200 ft (370 meters).

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Kia PV5 Cargo sets new Guinness World Record

Kia’s electric van completed the loop 12 times while carrying its max payload, finally coming to a stop on the twelfth run.

“Even if Kia is new to the LCV market, this record is a testament to the versatility and innovation behind Kia’s first PBV, showing that we are serious contenders,” Kia’s European boss, Marc Hedrich, said.

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Christopher Nigemeier, Senior Engineer at Hyundai Motor Europe Technical Center, in the PV5 during the GUINNESS WORLD RECORD attempt (Source: Kia)

The fact that it ran for almost two full working days on a single charge, “speaks volumes about its real-world capabilities,” Hedrich added.

According to Kia’s internal tests, adding 220 lbs (100 kg) of payload reduces the PV5’s range by only around 1.5%.

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Marc Hedrich, President & CEO at Kia Europe (left), with Joanne Brent, GUINNESS WORLD RECORD adjudicator (right) Source: Kia

The PV5 is a midsize electric van and Kia’s first dedicated model from its new Platform Beyond Vehicle (PBV) business. It’s built on Hyundai’s E-GMP.S architecture. The flexible EV platform supports several variants.

Kia currently sells the PV5 in Passenger (for personal use) and Cargo (for businesses). Over the next few years, it plans to introduce seven body types, including Light Camper, Wheelchair Accessible, and open-bed models.

The PV5 Cargo offers up to 4.4 m3 of load space and a max payload of 1,740 lbs (790 kg). It’s available with two battery pack options: 51.5 kWh or 71.2 kWh, with WLTP driving ranges of 184 miles and 258 miles, respectively.

Kia plans to launch additional electric vans, including the larger PV7 in 2027 and the even bigger PV9, due out around 2029.

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Palo Alto Networks debuts automated AI agents to fight cyberattacks

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Palo Alto Networks debuts automated AI agents to fight cyberattacks

Nikesh Arora, CEO of Palo Alto Networks, looks on during the closing bell at the Nasdaq Market in New York City on March 25, 2025.

Jeenah Moon | Reuters

Palo Alto Networks on Tuesday launched new artificial intelligence agents that allow customers to automate certain cybersecurity actions.

The new agents, known as Cortex AgentiX, can handle threat intelligence investigations, respond to email breaches and can be deployed across various security vendor platforms. The tools will be available starting Tuesday through several of Palo Alto’s current cloud services, and will launch as a separate platform next year.

The new AI agents are meant to meet growing demand from customers for more automated capabilities, CEO Nikesh Arora told reporters and analysts last week. Most agents, he added, will have a human middleman to review.

In the age of AI, companies are racing to find new methods to fight increasingly sophisticated and complex cyberattacks. Earlier this month, cybersecurity firm F5‘s stock dropped 10% after it said it suffered a nation-state hack.

Arora said he’s concerned that some enterprises are still “under the illusion that they are extremely secure.”

Palo Alto Networks is in the midst of a watershed shake-up as it integrates its $25 billion acquisition of Israeli identity security vendor CyberArk.

Shortly after the news broke, Arora told CNBC that the deal integrates CyberArk with Palo Alto’s AI and security aspirations.

“We look for great products, a team that can execute in the product, and we let them run it,” he said.

WATCH: AI is changing the world, cybersecurity has to keep up, says Palo Alto Networks

AI is changing the world, cybersecurity has to keep up, says Palo Alto Networks

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Trump’s Truth Social moves into prediction markets with Crypto.com

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Trump’s Truth Social moves into prediction markets with Crypto.com

Trump’s Truth Social moves into prediction markets with Crypto.com

Truth Social wants to “democratize information” for its 6.3 million users with a social media prediction platform developed in collaboration with Crypto.com.

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