Türkiye Jeoloji Bülteni

A Lower Paleolithic Section from the Pleistocene Period: Karain

Abstract: The Lower Paleolithic layers containing chipped stone material that make up the subject of this work,are located in the E cavity of the cave. The archaeological deposits located in the E cavity is approximately 11 mthick. On the other hand, the part that concerns us and contains Lower Paleolithic layers is only 4 m. In this layer, 7different geologic units which can be distinguished from each other have been determined. Each of these geologicalunits has given us very important chipped stone finds.Techno-typological analyzes have been carried out on the mentioned chipped stone finds. Within the scope of thesestudies, the results of raw material, technology and chipped stone tool analyzes are presented. The results of theseanalyzes gave us important ideas about the Karain Lower Paleolithic chipping stone industry.Techno-typological analysis were made on 4767 pieces of chipped stone in total. The basic industrial elementsbetween them consist of unretouched flakes, tools and also cores and core fragments. These elements have beenclassified and reviewed considering to specific criteria. As a result of these examinations, it was discovered that the chipped stone materials belong to a period approximately 440,000-370,000 years ago contained both Tayacian andAcheulean cultural elements of the Lower Paleolithic Period together.There are no settlements and materials that can make much comparisons in Turkey, but there are some settlements inthe Levant Region of the Near East that show the characteristics of the Karain chipping stone industry. This situationsheds light on the distribution of cultures in different geographical locations in the macro-scale, and therefore to thehuman movements like long-distance migrations.