The Paleolithic Quartz Assemblages of Denizli (South Aegean, Western Anatolia): A Selection of Bipolar Knapping, Techno-Typological and Experimental Approaches

ABSTRACT

After the discovery of Homo erectus remains (circa 1.2 Ma) in Denizli, through examination of their surviving material culture, many sites containing lithics which could be attributed to Homo erectus have been located. It have revealed quartz assemblages in the parts of Denizli connected to the Menderes and Gediz Massif. The assemblages detected in Buldan and Güney associate with Mode 1 and Mode 2 techno-complexes. As the first systematic bipolar knapping study in the Paleolithic of Turkey, techno-typological analyses supported by experimental analyses will be a guide for future studies. As a result of these analyses, bipolar knapping, freehand technique, and the alternate use of both could be suggested as strategies for dealing with environmental raw material limitations or as a technical behavioral choice. In this context, the lithic assemblages in question, with their specific characteristics, shed new light on the dispersal of the early hominins out of Africa.

KEYWORDS:

• Denizli
• aegean
• Western Anatolia
• paleolithic
• quartz
• lithic technology
• bipolar knapping

Acknowledgements

The Denizli Paleolithic Survey is carried out with the permission of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums, and the financial support of the Turkish Historical Society. We would like to express appreciation to these institutions. In addition, we would like to thank the team members who participated in the field, Görkem Cenk Yeşilova, who drew the lithics, Yunus Emre Sevindik for his help and support in the experimental analysis of the bipolar knapping and Esra Tunçel for information on the geology of the region. Also, we would like to thank Dr. Otis Crandell and Dr. Emma Louise Baysal for proofreading the article. Finally, we would like to thank the referees and editor for their efforts and time to improve our manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 “It is necessary to striking hard and for a long time before obtainning anythink other than quartz dust, at the same time as a crushing of two ends of the pebble struck. (…) This process does not make it possible to obtain large flakes, but it has the advantage, where the other flaking methods are ineffective, of flaking a block of quartz entirely, manual reduction or on an anvil producing subspherical polyhedrons over which ordinary percussion no longer has a hold.”

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Turkish Historical Society.

Notes on contributors

Kadriye Özçelik

Prof. Kadriye Özçelik is a professor in the Department of Prehistory at Ankara University (Turkey). Her research interests include the lithic technology and the Paleolithic of Turkey.

Göknur Karahan

Göknur Karahan is a research assistant at Ankara University. Her research interests include the lithic technology and the Lower and Middle Paleolithic of Turkey.