Mysterious remains within the Richat Structure - Sahara

Just wondering if anybody could give any info on what looks like ancient forts in the sahara, close to the Richat Structure. Actually there are two almost identical about two miles apart. They are not marked on Google Earth and I can find no reference to them.
Any info appreciated.
Old Fort Within Richat Structure.kmz (733 B)

Mar 16, 2016 23:10:57 GMT petemi2 said:

Just wondering if anybody could give any info on what looks like ancient forts in the sahara, close to the Richat Structure. Actually there are two almost identical about two miles apart. They are not marked on Google Earth and I can find no reference to them.
Any info appreciated.

Hi petemi2, To Google Earth Community
.

In this community its a tradition to use placemarks / kmz file(s) instead of screenshots and or written
coordinates.

Please educate yourself with this tutorial >> Very basic placemarks and post help <<

Thanks, ET

Ok....thanks for that link.
Pete.

Nice find, Pete.

I'm puzzled, too, but my first guess is that it may have some relationship to the ancient caravan stop town Ksour of Ouadane,  (about 25 km to the SE, and placemarked in the oGEC Layer) which may be as old as the 11th century, or perhaps the Portuguese trading post thought to have been briefly established nearby in the late 16th century. I didn't find your second example, so you might placemark it too, in case I'm not the only who is curious but lazy.

Edit: 3/30/16 I was surprised to see that the link here didn't work. (I think it may have been lost when I put the word "Ksour" in italics.)  It's fixed now.

Here's the second one...
Second Fort.kmz (710 B)

Thanks, Pete, for the other placemark. It seems to me that the two structures are remarkably similar in shape, size, and general appearance. I also find it interesting that there are no visible roads or trails to either of them. The second structure is close to some trees, which suggest some ground water may be present there. There may also be water available at the first, but I didn't find any plausible evidence of it. These interesting structures have me completely stumped.



It's now well understood that the Sahara's climate was once more conducive to human habitation. There have been several interesting posts about remains of human habitation in the ancient climate regime, and you might want to search them out. As I suggested before, I'm too lazy to do it. One conclusion I have finally reached over the years is that it's not only permissible to admit that I don't understand some puzzling circumstance that I have come across, but it is preferable to inventing some explanation, like a druid imagining a wolf devouring the moon, to ease my discomfort about not knowing and not understanding.

Hopefully someone will go take a closer look at these spots and eventually will be able to shed a bit of light on what they are and why they were built. I'm amazed that all the scrutiny the "eye of the Sahara" has recieved over the years and these forts (if that is indeed what they are) have never been spotted before.

I'm amazed too, Pete. Great find.

Writing down an "inventory" of features sometimes prompts ideas. I'm wondering about the small niches along the inside of the walls. I can't think of a purpose for those. Each side has an opening in the center of the wall. There are two long corner protrusions and a small one for each structure, which seems odd if the purpose is a fort. Why would there be only three lookout-type protrusions instead of four? Both have outlines of squarish structures in the center.  I did a Google search and couldn't find a single reference about the structures after three pages.

Thankyou Diane. I actually stumbled across these two locations about 12 months ago and was initially very intrigued as I could find no reference to their existence. I recently came back to them and decided to see if there was somewhere I could share this with people and maybe get some answers, this forum is where my search led me. I find this kind of thing fascinating.

Perhaps the niches are for parking camels. Washi mentions a possible link to Ksour and I think he's got something, there. Maybe these are simple caravanserais. Here is a photo of one in Syria, from Wikipedia - maybe there was no "camel roof" around the sides, like this one, or it fell in:


By Bernard Gagnon - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikipedia

hi and welcome!
nice findings!

probably kites?
check oGEC post by KenGrok HERE -their "kite" marks sign similarly featured objects in the saudi lava desert.

their definition in KMZ kite-folder description is:
"Kite are structures set up to funnel fleeing wildlife into enclosures for the purpose of capturing them. The ones visible in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria are presumably from the time 7000 B.C. or so, though many could be newer."

similar size and the bastillon-like features.
even i can imagine if that old, there could be richer fauna and/or denser human population one time.
however yours is all alone in its' closer neigborhood, looks stronger and much more "well-built" than those on the saudi peninsula, so i have to say: i do not know.
question still open.
best,
g

...

EDIT: no way, these are kites of course - these are obviously look like (ruins of) Forts (Bordj) and/or caravanserais. (:

See same structure, modern(ized) fort and one-time caravanserai of Chegga on GMaps - GE Photos layer content at >>25.3680332, -5.7887238<<

It's been 4 years since you told this. You have photos?

Hi janun, welcome around!

May 22, 2020 12:04:45 GMT janun said:

It's been 4 years since you told this. You have photos?

Could petemi2 has gone out to the desert to take some photos of his findings on GE? Well, who knows, .. but if yes we should start worry! He was last online 9 Jan 2019. ...

Until we wait I can report, that still no photos in GE layers, no GMaps or other photo reference available, only two more fort-ruins sites from around the Richat structure, spotted on GE:

forts - Richat structure.kmz (1.17 KB)

For more archaeological features of the location check 2^nd attachment of THIS posting!




G