Desert kites are communal game traps that were used to harvest herds of ungulates, and there are more than 6000 in the arid zones of southwestern Asia. The oldest were dated to the 9th millennium cal B.C. and some were reused until the beginning of the 20th century. A wide range of types and dimensions is found throughout the region, but only the small V-shaped type is found in the cultural landscape of the Timnian, a Mid-Holocene culture in the southern Levantine deserts. The Timnian economy was based on nomadic pastoralism, rearing small herds of goats/sheep. In the southern Levantine deserts, pastoralism had to be augmented by other carbohydrate sources. It is apparent that the Timnians invested much effort and resources in kite construction to hunt ungulates; however, faunal assemblages from habitation camps, burial fields and ceremonial complexes show very few bones of hunted game. Here we test two competing hypotheses: the use of kites to augment food supply, versus the use of kites for social or ceremonial purposes. We review the Timnian culture, the local kites, and cost-benefits considerations, as well as issues regarding desert pastoralism. We conclude that the kites were mostly used in social and ceremonial contexts.

沙漠风筝是一种公共猎物陷阱，用于捕获成群的有蹄类动物，在亚洲西南部的干旱地区有超过 6000 只。最古老的可追溯到公元前九世纪，有些直到 20 世纪初才被重新使用。整个地区发现了各种各样的类型和尺寸，但在黎凡特沙漠南部的全新世中期文化蒂姆尼安文化景观中只发现了小型 V 形类型。蒂姆尼亚的经济以游牧畜牧业为基础，饲养小群山羊/绵羊。在黎凡特沙漠南部，畜牧业必须通过其他碳水化合物来源来增强。显然，蒂姆尼亚人投入了大量的精力和资源来制作风筝来捕猎有蹄类动物。然而，居住营、墓地和仪式场所的动物群中几乎没有发现猎物的骨头。在这里，我们测试了两个相互竞争的假设：使用风筝来增加食物供应，与使用风筝用于社交或仪式目的。我们回顾了蒂姆尼安文化、当地风筝、成本效益考虑，以及有关沙漠畜牧业的问题。我们得出的结论是，风筝主要用于社交和仪式场合。