Exploring the Initial Upper Paleolithic at Üçagizli Cave, Turkey

University Of Arizona, Tucson AZ

Investigators

Abstract

With support from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Steven Kuhn and a group of international researchers will continue archaeological excavations at UUagizli ("three mouths") cave in south-central Turkey. The team includes professional archaeologists, physical anthropologists, geologists, and specialists in the analysis of ancient plant remains, as well as graduate students from the U.S., Turkey, and western Europe. The central goal of the project is to examine evidence for marked changes in human behavior within the earliest Upper Paleolithic period, and to place these developments in their environmental context. Archaeological deposits at the site span the period between about 30,000 and 43,000 years before present. Although humans with essentially modern skeletal anatomy had appeared much earlier, many researchers believe that it was only after 45,000 years ago that there is evidence in Eurasia for complex technologies, symbolic communication and art, and other features of material, social and intellectual life that distinguish fully modern humans from their ancestors. Results from excavations at UUagizli cave to date have helped expand our understanding of changes in economies and technology for this crucial interval in human history. The site has also yielded remains of what are among the earliest ornament-making traditions in Eurasia. These findings are especially important because they document the use of material culture as a medium of symbolic communication, long considered an important rubicon in human cognitive evolution. One issue guiding the research is whether developments in human behavior after 45,000 years ago represent local responses to changing ecological and demographic conditions, or whether they reflect the appearance of new human populations with enhanced cognitive abilities. Continuing excavations will allow us to examine in detail the timing of major shifts in behavior, and whether they occurred independently or in concert. Studies of animal bones, remains of shellfish, as well as ancient pollen and phytoliths (durable crystalline components of plant tissues) will allow us to place these developments in their environmental context, helping to distinguish broad evolutionary trends within the human species as a whole from local adaptations to changing conditions. At the same time, the project is helping to establish new links between academic institutions in Turkey and the United States. Through their participation in the research, students from Ankara University obtain training in field and lab methods. In exchange, American graduate students get valuable overseas research experience as well as material for theses and dissertations.