Hacker News Reader

I don't know, looks like hunting walls to me. When chased, animals naturally follow such walls, however insignificant they are (sometimes they follow even a line drawn on the grass), and get onto predictable trajectory leading them into ambush.

View on HN

I'm curious how you came to that conclusion. Nothing about these walls resembles desert kites that I can see, except that they both use natural materials in an arid climate.

As a child growing up in Central Asia, I saw people piling up stones, sticks, and other debris along the ancient lines people used to control herds and wild animals. The ones built for hunting often had a narrow, funnel-like end, while those meant for managing herds could take on almost any shape. One of the photos in that article looks exactly like the walls I remember from my childhood.

Yeah, but it's an overkill 2m wide and doesn't have a funnel, nor does it use the topography well for kite. And the fortification is a 100m+ square.

Like I said, the materials are similar. The design isn't.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com