Adaptation of Middle Paleolithic Humans to the Mediterranean Coastline – Üçağızlı II Cave Excavation / Hatay

Year 2023, Issue: 22, 1 - 28, 02.01.2024

İsmail Baykara , Ece Eren Kural , Didem Turan , Ayşen Açıkkol , Naoki Morimoto , Wataru Morita , Mustafa Kenan Agras

https://doi.org/10.58488/collan.1132495

Abstract

Üçağızlı II Cave (Hatay, Turkey) is a Middle Paleolithic site located at the northern limit of the Levantine coastal zone and has an important role in understanding the migration route and expansion of Pleistocene hominins. This partly collapsed cave is dated between 75,000 and 42,000 BP, based on the uranium series dates. In this study, faunal remains and lithic assemblages, obtained from layer Bu (B-upper) of Üçağızlı II Cave in 2021, were analyzed. In layer Bu, faunal assemblages are dominated by ungulate and marine molluscs, and dietary consumption as well as ornaments were also found in molluscs. The lithics present that the industry of Levallois is dominated in layer Bu. Additonally, flake-based production, unipolar Levallois core, sidescrapers and points (Mousterian and Levallois) are determined in the layer. These features indicate that lithic assemblages from layer Bu are similar to “Tabun C type” Mousterian assemblages.

Keywords

Middle Paleolithic, Hatay, Levantine, Faunal Remains, Levallois

Orta Paleolitik Dönem İnsanlarının Akdeniz Kıyı Şeridine Adaptasyonu - Üçağızlı II Mağarası Kazısı / Hatay

Abstract

Orta Paleolitik Dönem’e tarihlenen Üçağızlı II Mağarası (Hatay, Türkiye), Levant Koridorunun en kuzey ucunda yer almasından dolayı Pleistosen Dönem insansılarının göç yollarının ve yayılımının anlaşılması için önemli bir rol oynamaktadır. Kısmen yıkılmış olan Üçağızlı II Mağarası, uranyum tarihlendirme yöntemine göre 75,000 ile 42,000 yıl öncesine tarihlendirilmektedir. Bu çalışmada, 2021 yılında Üçağızlı II Mağarası’nın Büst tabakasından elde edilen hayvan kalıntıları ile yontmataş buluntular incelenmiştir. Büst tabakasında, hayvan kalıntıları arasında, toynaklılar ve denizel yumuşakçalar yaygın olarak bulunmuş, yumuşakçalar arasında beslenmenin yanı sıra süslenme ile ilgili unsurlara da rastlanılmıştır. Yontmataş buluntular arasında Büst tabakasında Levallois endüstrisi baskındır. Bunun yanında, yonga ağırlıklı bir üretim, tek kutuplu Levallois çekirdekler, kenar kazıyıcılar ile uçlar (Mousterian ve Levallois) bulunmaktadır. Yontmataş buluntularda gözlenen bu özellikler, Büst tabakasında bulunan yontmataşların “Tabun C tip” endüstrisine benzediğine işaret etmektedir.

Keywords

Orta Paleolitik, Hatay, Levant, Levallois, Hayvan Kalıntıları

References

• Adler, D.S., Tushabramishvili, N. 2004 Middle Palaeolithic Patterns of Settlement and Subsistence in the Southern Caucasus. In. Settlement Dynamics of the Middle Paleolithic and Middle Stone Age, Nicholas J. Conard (ed.). Kerns Verlag, Tübingen: 91–132.
• Bar-Yosef, O. 1998 The Chronology of the Middle Paleolithic of the Levant. In. Neanderthals and Modern Humans in Western Asia, Takeru Akazawa, Kenichi Aoki, Ofer Bar-Yosef (eds.). Kluwer Academic Publishers, New York: 39-56.
• Bar-Yosef, O. 2000 The Middle and Early Upper Paleolithic in Southwest Asia and Neighboring Regions. In. The Geography of Neanderthals and Modern Humans in Europe and the Greater Mediterranean, Ofer Bar-Yosef - David Pilbeam (eds.). Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Cambridge: 130-156.
• Bar-Yosef, O., Goren-Inbar, N. 1993 The Lithic Assemblages of ‘Ubeidiya, a Lower Paleolithic Site in the Jordan Valley. Qedem 34: 1-266. Bar-Yosef, O., Meignen, L. 2001 The Chronology of the Levantine Middle Palaeolithic Period in Retrospect. Bulletins et mémoires de la Société d’Anthropologie de Paris 13(3-4): 269-289.
• Baumler, M., Speth, J.D. 1993 A Middle Paleolithic Assemblage from Kunji Cave, Iran. In. The Paleolithic Prehistory of the Zagros-Taurus, Harold L. Dibble, Deborah I. Olszewski (eds). University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia: 1-75.
• Baykara, İ. 2013 Hatay Orta Paleolitik Dönem Endüstrilerinde Hammadde Kullanımı. Ankara Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi 4(2): 19-33.
• Baykara, İ., Mentzer, S., Stiner, M., Asmerom, Y., Güleç, E., Kuhn, S. 2015 The Middle Paleolithic occupations of Üçağızlı II Cave (Hatay, Turkey): Geoarcheological and archeological perspectives. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 4: 409-426.
• Baykara, İ., Kuhn, S., Baykara, D.S. 2016 Mousterian Lithic Assemblages of Merdivenli Cave. Mediterranean Archaeology & Archaeometry 16(1): 101-115.
• Baykara, İ., Eren Kural, E., Açıkkol, A., Agras, K. 2021 Kuzey Levant’tan Bir Orta Paleolitik Dönem Yerleşimi: Üçağızlı II Mağarası Buluntuları. Anadolu Araştırmaları 24: 1-31.
• Baykara, İ., Sarıkaya, M., Şahin, S., Dinçer, B., Ünal, E. 2022 Late Acheulean Lithic Assemblages from locality 010 at Gürgürbaba Hill (Eastern Anatolia). European Journal of Archaeology 25(3): 289-308.
• Bergström, A., Stringer, C., Hajdinjak, M., Scerri, E.M.L., Skoglund, P. 2021 Origins of modern human ancestry. Nature 590: 229-237.
• Blasco, R. 2008 Human consumption of tortoises at Level IV of Bolomor Cave (Valencia, Spain). Journal of Archaeological Science 35(10): 2839–2848.
• Blasco, R., Fernández Peris, J. 2012 A uniquely broad spectrum diet during the Middle Pleistocene at Bolomor Cave (Valencia, Spain). Quaternary International 252: 16–31.
• Bordes, F. 1961 Typologie du Paléolithique ancien et moyen. Paris.
• Bostancı, E.Y. 1965 Mağaracık Çevresinde Yapılan 1966 Yaz Mevsimi Kazıları ve Yeni Buluntular. D.T.C.F. Antropoloji Dergisi 3: 19-45.
• Bulut H., Taşkıran, H., Özçelik, K., Karahan, G. 2022 Lower and Middle Paleolithic evidence from the North Aegean coastline of Çanakkale, Turkey. Antiquity 96(388): 981-988.
• Chevalier, T., Özçelik, K., De Lumley, M.A., Kösem, B., De Lumley, H., Yalçınkaya, I., Taşkıran, H. 2015 The Endostructural Pattern of a Middle Pleistocene Human Femoral Diaphysis from the Karain E Site (Southern Anatolia, Turkey). American Journal of Physical Anthropology 157: 648-658.
• Cohen, V.Y., Stepanchuck, V.N. 1999 Late Middle and Early Upper Palaeolithic evidence from the East European Plain and Caucasus: a new look at variability, interactions, and transitions. Journal of World Prehistory 13: 265-319.
• Copeland, L. 1998 The Middle Paleolithic Flint Industry of Ras El-Kelb. In. The Mousterian Site of Ras el-Kelb, Lebanon, Lorraine Copeland, Norah Moloney (eds.). (BAR International Series 706), British Archaeological Reports, Oxford: 73-176.
• de Lumley, H., Nioradze, M., Barsky, D., Cauche, D., Celiberti, V., Nioradze, G., Notter, O., Zvania, D., Lordkipanidze, D. 2005. The Pre-Oldowayen Lithic Industry from the Beginning of the Lower Pleistocene at the Dmanissi Site in Georgia. L’anthroplogie 109: 1-182.
• Dibble, H.L. 1984 The Mousterian Industry from Bisitun Cave (Iran). Paléorient 10(2): 23-34. Dibble, H.L. 1991 Mousterian Assemblage Variability on an Interregional Scale. Journal of Anthropological Research 47(2): 239-257.
• Dibble, H.L., Holdaway, J.S. 1993 The Middle Paleolithic Industries of Warwasi. In. The Paleolithic Prehistory of the Zagros-Taurus, Harold L. Dibble, Deborah I. Olszewski (eds). University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia: 75-101.
• Dogandžić, T., Đuričić, L. 2017 Lithic Production Strategies in the Middle Paleolithic of the Southern Balkans. Quaternary International 450: 68-102.
• Golovanova, L.V., Doronichev, V.B. 2003 The Middle Paleolithic of the Caucasus. Journal of World Prehistory 17(1): 71-140.
• Güleç, E., Howell, F.C., White, T.D. 1999 Dursunlu a New Lower Pleistocene Artifact Bearing Locality in Southern Anatolia. In. Hominid Evolution: Lifestyles and Survival Strategies, Ullrich, H. (ed.). Edition Archae, Berlin: 349-364.
• Harmand, S., Lewis, J.E., Feibel, C.S., Lepre, C.J., Prat, S., Lenoble, A., Boës, X., Quinn, R.L., Brenet, M., Arroyo, A., Taylor, N., Clément, S., Daver, G., Brugal, J.P., Leakey, L., Mortlock, R.A., Wright, J.D., Lokorodi, S., Kirwa, C., Kent, D., Roche, H. 2015 3.3-million-year-old stone tools from Lomekwi 3, West Turkana, Kenya. Nature 521: 310-315.
• Hovers, E. 2009 The Lithic Assemblages of Qafzeh Cave. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
• Inizan, M.L., Reduron-Ballenger, M., Roche, H., Tixier, J. 1999 Technology and Terminology of Knapped Stone. CREP, Nanterre.
• KozŁowski, J. 1992 The Balkans in the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic: The Gate to Europe or a Cul-de-sac?. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 58(1): 1-20.
• Kuhn, S.L. 2004 Upper Paleolithic Raw Material Economies at Üçağızlı Cave, Turkey. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 23: 431-448.
• Kuhn, S.L., Balkan-Atlı, N., Dinçer, B. 2009a Excavations at Kaletepe Deresi 3. Anatolia Antiqua 17: 291-299.
• Kuhn, S.L., Stiner, M.C., Güleç, E., Özer, İ., Yılmaz, H., Baykara, İ., Açıkkol, A., Goldberg, P., Molina, K.M., Ünay, E., Suata-Alpaslan, F. 2009b The early Upper Paleolithic occupations at Üçağızlı Cave (Hatay, Turkey). Journal of Human Evolution, 56(2): 87-113.
• Lebatard, A.E., Alçiçek, M.C., Rochette, P., Khatib, S., Vialet, A., Boulbes, N., Bourles, D.L., Demory, F., Guipert, G., Mayda, S., Titov, V.V., Vidal, L., de Lumley, H. 2014 Dating the Homo erectus Bearing Travertine from Kocabaş (Denizli, Turkey) at least 1.1 Ma. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 390: 8-18.
• Marks, A.E., Volkman, P. 1986 The Mousterian of Ksar Akil: Levels XXVIA through XXVIIIB. Paléorient 12(1): 5-20.
• Meignen, L. 1998 Hayonim Cave Lithic Assemblages in the contex of the Near Eastern Middle Paleolithic. In. Neanderthals and Modern Humans in Western Asia, Takeru Akazawa, Kenichi Aoki, Ofer Bar-Yosef (eds.). Kluwer Academic Publishers, New York: 165-180.
• Meignen, L., Bar-Yosef, O., Speth, J.D., Stiner, M.C. 2006 Middle Paleolithic Settlement Patterns in the Levant. In. Transitions Before the Transition Evolution and Stability in the Middle Paleolithic and Middle Stone Age, Erella Hovers, Steven L. Kuhn (ed.). Springer: 149–169.
• Mihailović, D., Milošević, S., Radović, P. 2014 New Data about the Lower and Middle Paleolithic in the Western Morava Valley. In. Paleolithic and Mesolithic Research in the Central Balkans, Dušan Mihailović (ed.). Serbian Archaeological Society, Belgrade: 57-67.
• Minzoni-Deroche, A. 1993 Middle and Upper Paleolithic in the Taurus-Zagros Region. In. The Paleolithic Prehistory of the Zagros-Taurus, Harold L. Dibble, Deborah I. Olszewski (eds.). University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia: 147-155.
• Nicholson, S.L., Hosfield, R., Groucutt, H.S., Pike, A.W., Fleitmann, D. 2021 Beyond Arrows on a Map: the dynamics of Homo Sapiens dispersal and occupation of Arabia during Marine Isotope Stage 5. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 62: 101269.
• Otte, M., Yalçınkaya, I., Taşkıran, H., Kozlowski, J.K., Bar-Yosef, O., Noiret, P. 1995 The Anatolian Middle Paleolithic: New Research at Karain Cave. Journal of Anthropological Research 51(4): 287-299.
• Otte, M., Yalçınkaya, I., Kozlowski, J.K., Bar-Yosef, O., Bayon, I.L., Taşkıran, H. 1998 Long-term Technical Evolution and Human Remains in the Anatolian Palaeolithic. Journal of Human Evolution 34: 413-431.
• Özçelik, K., Karahan, G. 2023 The Paleolithic Quartz Assemblages of Denizli (South Aegean, Western Anatolian): A Selection of Bipolar Knapping, Techno-Typological and Experimental Approaches. Lithic Technology 48(1): 43-61.
• Presnyakov, S.L., Belyaeva, E.V., Lyubin, V.P., Rodionov, N.V., Antonov, A.V., Saltykova, A.K., Berezhnaya, N.G., Sergeev, S.A. 2012. Age of the Earliest Paleolithic Sites in the Northern Part of the Armenian Highland by SHRIMP-II U–Pb Geochronology of Zircons from Volcanic Ashes. Gondwana Research 21: 928-938.
• Richards, M.P., Petit, P.B., Stiner, M.C., Trinkaus, E. 2001 Stable isotope evidence for increasing dietary breadth in the European Mid-Upper Paleolithic. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 98(11): 6528-6532.
• Ron, H., Levi, S. 2001 When did Hominids First Leave Africa?: New High-resolution Magnetostratigraphy from the Erk-el-Ahmar Formation, Israel. Geology 29(10): 887-890.
• Sehasseh, E.M., Fernandez, P., Kuhn, S., Stiner, M., Mentzer, S., Colarossi, D., Clark, A., Lanoe, F., Pailes, M., Hoffmann, D., Benson, A., Rhodes, E., Benmansour, M., Laissaoui, A., Ziani, I., Vidal-Matutano, P., Morales, J., Djellal, Y., Longet. B., Hublin, J.J., Mouhiddine, M., Rafi, F.Z., Worthey, K.B., Sanchez-Morales, I., Ghayati, N., Bouzouggar, A. 2021 Early Middle Stone Age personal ornaments from Bizmoune Cave, Essaouira, Morocco. Science Advances 7(39): 1-10.
• Slimak, L., Kuhn, S.L., Roche, H., Mouralis, D., Buitenhuis, H., Balkan-Atlı, N., Binder, D., Kuzucuoğlu, C., Guillou, H. 2008 Kaletepe Deresi 3 (Turkey): Archaeological evidence for early human settlement in Central Anatolia, Journal of Human Evolution 54: 99-111.
• Stiner, M.C. 2004 Small game use and expanding diet breadth in the Eastern Mediterranean Basin during the Palaeolithic. In. Petits Animaux et Sociétiés Humaines, du Complément Alimentaire aux Resources Utilitaires, (XXIVe rencontres internationales d’archéologie et d’histoire d’Antibes) J.-P. Brugal - J. Desse (eds.). Éditions APDCA, Antibes: 499-513.
• Stiner, M.C. 2006 Middle Paleolithic Subsistence Ecology in the Mediterranean Region. In. Transitions Before the Transition Evolution and Stability in the Middle Paleolithic and Middle Stone Age, Erella Hovers, Steven L. Kuhn (ed.). Springer: 213–231.
• Stiner, M.C. 2009a The antiquity of large game hunting in the Mediterranean Paleolithic: Evidence from mortality patterns. In. Transitions in Prehistory: Essays in Honor of Ofer Bar-Yosef, J.J. Shea, D.E. Lieberman, (eds.). Oxbow, Oxford: 103-123.
• Stiner, M. C. 2009b Prey choice, site occupation intensity & economic diversity in the Middle – early Upper Palaeolithic at the Üçağizli Caves, Turkey. KIP Articles. 4298.
• Stiner, M.C., Munro, N.D. 2002 Approaches to Prehistoric Diet Breadth Demography and Prey Ranking Systems in Time and Space. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 9: 181-214.
• Stiner, M.C., Kuhn, S.L. 2009 Paleolithic Diet and the Division of Labor in Mediterranean Eurasia. In. Paleolithic Diet and the Division of Labor in Mediterranean Eurasia, J.-J. Hublin, M.P. Richards (ed.). Dordrecht, Springer: 157–169.
• Stiner, M.C., Kuhn, S.L., Güleç, E. 2013 Early Upper Paleolithic Shell beads at Üçağızlı Cave I (Turkey): Technology and the socioeconomic context of ornament life-histories. Journal of Human Evolution 64: 380-398
• Stringer, C., Galway-Witham, J. 2018 When did modern humans leave Africa?. Science 359: 389-390
• Şenyürek, M. 1959 Tıkalı Mağarası’nın Paleolitik Endüstrisine Dair Bir Not. Belleten 23(89): 9-58.
• Taşkıran, H., Aydın, Y., Özçelik, K., Erbil, E. 2021 A New Discovery of Neanderthal Settlements in Turkey: Sürmecik Open-Air Campsite in Western Anatolia. L'Anthropologie 125(1): 102838.
• Tourloukis, V., Harvati, K. 2017 The Palaeolithic record of Greece: A synthesis of the evidence and a research agenda for the future. Quaternary International 466: 48-65.
• Yalçınkaya, I., Otte, M., Bar-Yosef, O., Kozlowski, J., Leotard, J.M., Taşkıran, H. 1993 The Excavations at Karain Cave, Southwestern Turkey: an Interim Report. In. The Paleolithic Prehistory of the Zagros-Taurus, Harold L. Dibble, Deborah I. Olszewski (eds.). University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia:101-118.
• Zhu, Z., Dennell, R., Huang, W., Wu, Y., Qiu, S., Yang, S., Rao, Z.,Hou, Y., Xie, J., Han, J., Ouyang, T. 2018 Hominin occupation of the Chinese Loess Plateau since about 2.1 Million Years Ago. Nature 559(7715): 608–612.