New Arabian desert kites and potential proto-kites extend the global distribution of hunting mega-traps

•Recently discovered mega-traps are documented by a combination of satellite image analysis and fieldwork.•A relative chronology could be established between a proto-kite form (the ‘open kites’) and the desert kites in the Khaybar region.•Morphologically homogeneous groups of desert kites show a distinctive geographic distribution.•Mapping of morphologically distinct kites is proposed for the southern part of their geographic range. New desert kites have been discovered over the past two years during the observation of satellite images of north-western Arabia. Great numbers of these large archaeological traps were known prior to this from the Aralo-Caspian zone to the Arabian Peninsula. Many of these recent discoveries are constructions without the same closed enclosures as kites, but which are nonetheless clearly related to kites as, like them, they comprise pit-traps. The study of all these ‘open kites’, based on the observation of satellite images, focused on the characterisation of their morphology, topographical location and comparisons of their geographical distribution with that of kites in the region. The analysis of these data was confirmed by a field study in Khaybar, Saudi Arabia, of a sample of open kites in the spring of 2021, during which elements of relative chronology were observed. Open kites are more rudimentary and less systematically organised than kites and represent a ‘mega-trap’ form that pre-dates the desert kites. Groups of kites were identified on the basis of morphological resemblances, using two different methods, resulting in the overall mapping of mega-traps in the southern part of the kite distribution range. These localised morphological variations probably reflect the evolution of the hunting technique using these traps. They provide new information, which, combined with chronological data from excavations, aims to record the spread of the kite phenomenon.