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They’re enormous, with no obvious “doors” or points of entry. The gates do not look like houses or temples. The gates do not resemble previously identified “kites”, which ancient cultures used to corral and pen animals. Scientists have some ideas of what the gates were probably not used for: No idea! This is a true archaeological mystery.The rocks are basaltic lava, common in the harrat. The end sections are as thick as 9 meters (30 feet). The gates range from a hundred meters (several hundred feet) to nearly 490 meters (1,600 feet) in length.Remember: The stone structures are not actually gates! “ hen looked at horizontally, they resemble a simple fence with two thick upright posts on the sides connected by one or more long bars.” Take a look at a field gate here. Why do archaeologists call the rectangular structures “gates”?.The volcanic domes ejected basaltic lava, which flowed down the sides of the dome creating large lava fields.” The “structures are all associated with old lava domes, now inactive, but were active during construction of these stone gates. Yes, the volcano was probably active during the construction of at least some of the structures.The harrat associated with the newly discovered stone structures is Harrat Ash Shamah, which stretches about 25,200 square kilometers (5,869 square miles) between Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
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Rocky harrats spill across the Middle East. A harrat describes an ancient lava plain.Archaeologists report that the stone structures were discovered in a “harrat.” What is a harrat?.The Desert Team reported their discoveries to archaeologists, who responded with “absolute bafflement.”.Whether they know it or not, the Desert Team engaged in a great Nat Geo-Inquiry question: “The question we always discuss while investigating them is, why here? Why in this stony, frightful, rugged land?”.The structures were first discovered and identified not by archaeologists at all, but by citizen scientists! The Desert Team is a group of enthusiastic “amateur Saudi travelers and researchers who are interested in Arabian desert and its history, geography, and archeology.”
![everspace glyph displays ancient structures everspace glyph displays ancient structures](https://i.redd.it/4cgpi5s4hauz.png)
Although similar structures have been studied in nearby Jordan, Saudi Arabia has traditionally been hesitant to allow planes to fly in its airspace. The overall structure of the stone walls is only apparent from an aerial viewpoint-a plane, drone, or satellite. The deserts of Saudi Arabia are forbidding and still largely uninhabited. How did they hide in plain sight for thousands of years?