Archaeological evidence for 9th and 8th millennia BC at Girmeler Cave near Tlos in SW Turkey

Abstract

A mound settlement in front of the Girmeler Cave near the major Lycian city of Tlos in SW Turkey revealed evidence for occupation during the late 9th and 8th millennia BC. The ccupation is characterized by a structure with at least two layers of lime-plastered floor, hearths and bins and a wattle-and-daub superstructure, all pointing to a sedentary community engaged in intensive hunting and gathering. The trial trenches at Girmeler Cave also yielded evidence of an Early Pottery Neolithic period at the end of the 8th millennium BC. The remains of several buildings with terrazzo floors and wattle-and-daub superstructures were found. It is likely that the cave served as a sacred site in the Early Pottery Neolithic period. There was a hiatus between the late 9th/early 8th millennium BC and the Early Pottery Neolithic occupations at the site.

Long and short revolutions towards the Neolithic in western Anatolia and Aegean

“…The late 9 th and 8 th millennia BC site might represent only the tip of the iceberg of terrestrial hunter-foragers in the region. The 8 th millennium BC sequences of plastered floors have been related to inner Anatolian PPN traditions, such as those best presented in Asıklı (Takaoglu et al 2014). As recently suggested by Çilingiroglu (2016), the hunter-gatherers of Öküzini Cave probably reflect early forager-farmer interaction related to the pioneers who founded the first Neolithic farming sites in the Aegean in the period between 7000 and 6600 BC.…”

“…The southwest Anatolian coastal littoral and its wider hinterland provide new evidence of semi-mobile or even permanent foragers and hunter communities in the Girmeler Cave (Takaoglu et al 2014). Their remains of plastered floors and dwellings with hearths and pits suggest the continuous use of a site where domestic activities took place.…”

The Cretan Mesolithic in context: new data from Livari Skiadi (SE Crete)

“…The lack of Mesolithic sites in the southern Dodecanese arguably hampers our claim that Anatolian migrant farmers could have tapped into deep-time knowledge of the sea-and landscapes they were about to encounter via intermediary islanders (though alleged Mesolithic surface finds are documented from Chalki; Sampson 2010.139). That said, with the recent discoveries of late Pleistocene-early Holocene insular sites further to the north on Ikaria and Lemnos (Sampson et al 2012;Efstratiou et al 2013), together with the new south-west and western Anatolian evidence (Çilingiroglu et al 2016;Takaoglu et al 2014), it is arguably only a matter of time before Mesolithic activity is documented on the islands of Rhodes, Karpathos and Kasos (Fig. 1).…”

A comparative study of the Initial Neolithic chipped-stone assemblages of Ulucak and Uğurlu

“…BC and the late to ca 7400-7000 cal. BC (Becks, Polat-Becks 2013;Takaoğlu et al 2014). The chipped-stone assemblage of Girmeler consists of flakes, but there are also some flint blades used as sickles.…”