Browsing by Author "Baykara, Ismail"

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Before the Neolithic in the Aegean: the Pleistocene and the Early Holocene Record of Bozburun-Southwest Turkey
(Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2022) Atakuman, Cigdem; Erdogu, Burcin; Gemici, Hasan Can; Baykara, Ismail; Karakoc, Murat; Biagi, Paolo; Dirican, Murat
The renewed Mesolithic research in the Greek mainland and the islands has been providing new insights into the lively maritime activity within the region; however, the southwest coast of Turkey has been virtually devoid of related investigations until the commencement of the Bozburun Prehistoric Survey project in 2017. The aim of this paper is to give an overview of the prehistoric sites discovered at the Bozburun Peninsula during the 2017-2019 field seasons. Preliminary results indicate that the area is rich in prehistoric activity. While Middle Paleolithic chipped stone industries were identified at the sites of Kayabasi Cave, cakmak, and Sobalak, flake based microlithic chipped stone industries typical of the Aegean Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene were identified at the sites of Sarnic, Hurma, Sobalak, Zeytinlik, and cakmak. A variety of artifacts, suggestive of the Neolithic, were also recorded at the sites of Hurma, Zeytinlik, and possibly at Sobalak and Sarnic. In specific, the presence of carinated end-scrapers, burins and polyhedric cores at Sarnic, as well as some geometric microliths at Hurma, demonstrates that Bozburun was frequented during the Upper Paleolithic and the Epipaleolithic. The presence of a few geometric microliths made on Melos obsidian at Hurma also demonstrates that the region was connected to the Aegean obsidian network routes at least by the beginning of the Holocene. If our relative dating is correct, this constitutes the earliest known use of Melos obsidian in the Anatolian mainland.
Late Acheulean Lithic Assemblages From Locality 010 at Gurgurbaba Hill (Eastern Anatolia)
(Cambridge Univ Press, 2022) Baykara, Ismail; Sarikaya, M. Akif; Sahin, Serkan; Dincer, Berkay; Unal, Esin
The province of Van in north-eastern Turkey served as a land bridge between Africa and Eurasia during the Palaeolithic. The region is of particular relevance for understanding the movement of hominins between these continents. This study concerns the lithic remains from a locality at Gurgurbaba Hill, named Locality 010, north of the village of Ulupamir (Ercis district). Locality 010 was dated to 311 +/- 32 kya by terrestrial cosmogenic nuclides method, which coincides with Marine Isotope Stage 9 (MIS 9), a Middle Pleistocene interglacial period. The assemblage from this site is attributed to the Late Acheulean and resembles that of the southern Caucasus. This similarity indicates that the artefacts from Locality 010 were probably produced by late Lower Palaeolithic technology in a broad sense. These findings suggest local adaptations of late Middle Pleistocene hominins to high plateau environments.
The Middle Paleolithic Occupations of Ucagizh Ii Cave (Hatay, Turkey): Geoarcheological and Archeological Perspectives
(Elsevier Science Bv, 2015) Baykara, Ismail; Mentzer, Susan M.; Stiner, Mary C.; Asmerom, Yemane; Gulec, Erksin Savas; Kuhn, Steven L.
The site of Ucagizh II is located in a partially collapsed cave on the Mediterranean coast of the Hatay region, South Central Turkey. A small intact chamber (chamber D) preserves a sequence of Middle Paleolithic deposits nearly 2 m thick. Test excavations at the site in 2005 and 2007 produced large assemblages of artifacts, vertebrate and shellfish remains. The entire sequence formed during the Upper Pleistocene, subsequent to MIS 5a. Faunal and lithic assemblages are comparatively homogeneous, consistent with the inference that the deposits formed under relatively constant environmental conditions. Micromorphological analyses reveal an abundance of combustion features and products, although the visibility of the features is locally compromised by local, small-scale bioturbation. There is evidence that the ways fires were created and maintained changed along with the intensity of occupation. Lithic assemblages most closely resemble other Middle Paleolithic assemblages from the northern Levant but there are inconsistencies with the accepted pattern of technological change over time in the Levantine Mousterian more broadly. Faunal and lithic evidence indicate that the intensity and duration of occupational events declined over time at Ucagizh II. While there are many parallels in raw material economy with the early Upper Paleolithic of the nearby Ucagizh I site, the Middle Paleolithic hominins may have used the coastal landscape in a different way from later Upper Paleolithic groups. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
A Middle Paleolithic Settlement From the Northern Levant: the Finds of Uca??zl? Ii Cave
(Istanbul Univ, 2021) Baykara, Ismail; Kural, Ece Eren; Acikkol, Aysen; Agras, Mustafa Kenan
ucagizli II Cave, a Middle Paleolithic site on the Mediterranean coast of Hatay Province, Turkey, is partly collapsed and, based on uranium series dates, is dated between 75,000 and 42,000 BP. This paper examined faunal remains and lithic assemblages from layer Bu (B-upper), obtained during the 2020 excavation season. In layer Bu, typical faunal remains of the Mediterranean have been identified, and for the first time, ornamentation samples have been found in mollusk remains. Lithic assemblages are characterized by Levallois industry, and flake-based production has been determined. Additionally, unipolar Levallois core, Mousterian, and Levallois points and sidescrapers dominate the lithic assemblages. These features indicate that stone tools from layer Bu belong to the Levantine Middle Paleolithic culture and resemble "Tabun C type" industry. This situation shows human dispersal to the northern Levant during the Upper Pleistocene.
Mousterian Lithic Assemblages of Merdivenli Cave
(Univ Agean, dept Mediterranean Stud, 2016) Baykara, Ismail; Kuhn, Steven L.; Baykara, Derya Silibolatlaz
Most scientists agree that modern humans left Africa relatively recently. However, there is less agreement about the number of dispersal events and the route or routes taken by humans and when they migrated out of Africa. The earliest evidence for a dispersal of Homo sapiens into Eurasia comes from the central Levant, but it is unclear how geographically extensive this early dispersal was. Likewise, many researchers agree that Neanderthals dispersed back into the Levant during MIS 5 (123-130 Ka.), but it is uncertain where those populations originated. Information from areas geographically intermediate between the Levant and more distal parts of Eurasia is crucial to obtaining a more realistic understanding of the ebb and flow of human Pleistocene populations. This article examines Middle Paleolithic artifact assemblages from Merdivenli Cave in the Hatay Region, southern Anatolia (Turkey) in order to assess the similarities with better known assemblages from neighboring areas. The stone tools from Merdivenli Cave are characterized Levallois production similar to "Tabun C type" Mousterian assemblages, and therefore it is possible that these assemblages were also associated with archaic Homo sapiens, as in the central Levant.
A Possible Late Pleistocene Forager Site From the Karaburun Peninsula, Western Turkey
(Cambridge Univ Press, 2018) Cilingiroglu, Ciler; Dincer, Berkay; Baykara, Ismail; Uhri, Ahmet; Cakirlar, Canan
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.
Squatting Facet: a Case Study Dilkaya and Van-Kalesi Populations in Eastern Turkey
(Collegium Antropologicum, 2010) Baykara, Ismail; Yilmaz, Hakan; Gultekin, Timur; Gulec, Erksin
Anomalies of the skeleton provide information on living conditions, cultural structure and health problems in ancient societies. Squatting facet is a kind of anomaly that forms on the surfaces where the tibia and talus articulate is the squatting facet states the daily activities and living style of the society. The aim of this study is to learn the daily activities of the medieval societies in the Van region through studying of squatting facets. In this study, adult skeletons from Dilkaya and Van Kalesi-Eski Van Sehri societies dating to the Medieval Age were investigated (65 tibia and 82 tali from Dilkaya, 61 tibia and 52 tali from Van Kalesi-Eski Van Sehri). The lateral squatting facet had high ratios in both societies. The tibia lateral squatting facet found on females and males of Dilkaya was 97.2% and 96.9%, respectively, and on females and males of Van kalesi Eski Van Sehri was 87.5% and 89.2 %, respectively. The talus lateral squatting facet found on females and males of Dilkaya was 72.1% and 51.3%, respectively, and on females and males of Van kalesi Eski Van,Sehri was 91.2% and 83.7%, respectively. The results provide an opportunity to study the relationship between past and modern population, and also describe the daily activity of life and cultural structure.