Karain Cave
Karain Mağarası · Black Cave
Lower Palaeolithic to Byzantine (500,000 BP–1200 CE)·Tayacian/Clactonian → Acheulean → Mousterian → Upper Palaeolithic·🇹🇷 Antalya Province, Döşemealtı, Mediterranean, Turkey
Klaus-Peter Simon · CC BY 3.0
About
About Karain Cave
Seven-chamber limestone cave 27 km NW of Antalya at Yağca, the type-site for Anatolian Lower Palaeolithic with 11 m of brecciated deposits spanning 500,000 years — Tayacian choppers, Acheulean handaxes, Mousterian Neanderthal teeth and hippo/rhino fauna. Işın Yalçınkaya's excavation defines the Med-SW Anatolian Palaeolithic yardstick.
Why it mattersOldest continuous human occupation in Anatolia (500 ka), textbook Tayacian/Acheulean and Neanderthal with hippo fauna.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Nature of the 350 ka sterile hiatus?
Theories
- 01Refugium for Quaternary faunal exchange (Yalçınkaya)
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- Natural cave occupied from Lower Palaeolithic c.500,000 BP
- Period
- Lower Palaeolithic to Byzantine (500,000 BP–1200 CE)
- Culture
- Tayacian/Clactonian → Acheulean → Mousterian → Upper Palaeolithic
- Builders
- Tayacian/Clactonian communities
- Purpose
- Palaeolithic habitation, seasonal Neolithic shelter, Byzantine chapel
- Rediscovered
- Modern archaeological survey/ rescue
- Excavation
- Excavation ongoing
c.500,000 BP
Earliest Tayacian occupation (Chambers E-H)
c.350,000 BP
Acheulean handaxe levels
c.120,000 BP
Mousterian Neanderthal ochre
1985
Yalçınkaya systematic excavation
On the ground
Structures & features
37.0778° N · 30.5708° E · 430 m · 3 mapped features
- Karain Cave — East gatewallKey sub-area of Karain Cave (Lower Palaeolithic to Byzantine) showing Tayacian/Clactonian horizon37.0771° N · 30.5705° E
- Karain Cave — West workshopgateKey sub-area of Karain Cave (Lower Palaeolithic to Byzantine) showing Tayacian/Clactonian horizon37.0779° N · 30.5711° E
- Karain Cave — Ceremonial buildingmoundKey sub-area of Karain Cave (Lower Palaeolithic to Byzantine) showing Tayacian/Clactonian horizon37.0787° N · 30.5717° E
Gallery