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5. THE FIRST MODERNS IN ANATOLIA: ÜÇAĞIZLI CAVE AND ORNAMENT USING

THE FIRST MODERNS IN ANATOLIA: ÜÇAĞIZLI CAVE AND ORNAMENT USING

Güleç Erksin Savaş

Ankara University, Department of Anthropology, Ankara, Turkey

Güleç Erksin Savaş, e-mail:egulec@ankara.edu.tr.

Abstract

Üçağızlı Cave is located on the Mediterranean coast in the Hatay Province, about 10 km South of the point where the Asi River empties into the sea. The cave is on a steepslope at about 18 m above the current sea level and was discovered and first investigated in the late 1980s by Angela Minzoni-Deroche. The current excavation began in 1997 and has been led by Prof. Dr. Erksin Savaş Güleç, from the University of Ankara. Two principal cultural components are represented in Üçağızlı Cave. The first, more recent component closely resembles the Ahmarian complex known from other sites in the Levant. The second, earliest of these, corresponds to the so-called Initial Upper Paleolithic phase. The Initial Upper Paleolithic is considered a technocomplex transitional between Middle and Upper Paleolithic. Paleolithic deposits preserved within Üçağızlı Cave span a period of approximately 12,000 years; Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates indicate ages between 29,000 and 41,000 radiocarbon years (circa 31,000 to 43,000 calendar years). In all layers of the cave abundant amount of shell beads which used as ornaments, have been found. Advanced lithic technology and coordinated ornament use found in the cave indicate the presence of the first modern humans in Anatolia.

Keywords

Anatolia, first moderns, Initial Upper Paleolithic, Upper Paleolithic, ornament using

Цит.: Güleç Erksin Savaş THE FIRST MODERNS IN ANATOLIA: ÜÇAĞIZLI CAVE AND ORNAMENT USING // Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin (Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seria XXIII. Antropologia), 2014; 3/2014; с. 90-91