Sketches of various U and L shapes. (from: Gauthier-2002-Monuments A antenna en L
Mainly in the Central Sahara, but also far into the Western Sahara, you can see strange hooks or horseshoe-shaped structures, which I summarize with the term "U-Monuments". Most of these can be found from the Tassili N'Ajjer through the Tamanrasset to the Kidal region of northern Mali. Although they are quite similar from a bird's eye view, these are at least three different groups of monuments. The most common are the structures called "Tente de Fatima (Ehen n-Fatima)" by the Tuareg. At least 2,500 of these are known. There are also a few hundred L-shaped monuments and a handful of U-shaped structures, like the Royal Tumulus.
Interestingly, U-monuments do not occur in mountainous areas, but exclusively on the flat edges of wadis. Based on the limited evidence available, these are likely the youngest of the Saharan monuments. The oldest U-monuments may date back to 500 AD, while the youngest are only 500 years old.
Images courtesy of Google Earth™
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