İsmail Baykara

The early Upper Paleolithic occupations at Üçağızlı Cave (Hatay, Turkey)

This paper summarizes results from excavations at Uçağizli Cave (Hatay, Turkey) between 1999 and 2002 and 2005. This collapsed karstic chamber contains a sequence of early Upper Paleolithic deposits that span an interval between roughly 29,000 and 41,000 (uncalibrated) radiocarbon years BP. Lithic assemblages can be assigned to two major chronostratigraphic units. The earliest assemblages correspond with the Initial Upper Paleolithic, whereas the most recent ones fit within the definition of the Ahmarian. Substantial assemblages of stone tools, vertebrate faunal remains, ornaments, osseous artifacts, and other cultural materials provide an unusually varied picture of human behavior during the earliest phases of the Upper Paleolithic in the northern Levant. The sequence at Uçağizli Cave documents the technological transition between Initial Upper Paleolithic and Ahmarian, with a high degree of continuity in foraging and technological activities. The sequence also documents major shifts in occupational intensity and mobility.

New Palaeolithic and Mesolithic sites in the eastern Aegean: the Karaburun Archaeological Survey Project

Despite ongoing fieldwork focusing on the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods of the Aegean, the eastern part of this region, especially western Turkey, remains almost entirely unexplored in terms of early prehistory. There is virtually no evidence from this area that can contribute to broader research themes such as the dispersal of early hominins, the distribution of Early Holocene foragers and early forager-farmer interactions. The primary aim of the Karaburun Archaeological Survey Project is to address this situation by collecting data from the eastern side of the Aegean Sea, thereby contributing to the currently debated issues of Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean prehistory.

A possible Late Pleistocene forager site from the Karaburun Peninsula, western Turkey

The ‘Karaburun Archaeological Survey’ project aims to illuminate the lifeways of Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene foragers in western Anatolia. A recently discovered, lithic-rich site on the Karaburun Peninsula offers new insights into a currently undocumented period of western Anatolian prehistory.