Archaeologists find 9,000-year-old shrine in Jordan desert

By OMAR AKOUR
Associated Press

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — A team of Jordanian and French archaeologists says it has found a roughly 9,000-year-old shrine at a remote Neolithic site in Jordan’s eastern desert. The ritual complex was discovered in a Neolithic campsite near large structures known as “desert kites.” These are mass traps that are believed to have been used to corral wild gazelles for slaughter. Such traps consist of two or more long stone walls converging toward an enclosure. They are found scattered across the deserts of the Middle East. A Jordanian archaeologist and co-director of the project said Tuesday that the discovery is unique, in part because the site was well-preserved.