The Palaeolithic Age (250,000-10,000 BC)

The Palaeolithic Age, also known as the Old Stone Age, is the oldest and longest period of humanity’s history. Humans in this period first used caves and rock shelters as their dwellings. During this period, when hunting and gathering economy prevailed, early humans strived to facilitate their lives through the simple tools they made of small stones.

This age is studied under three development stages as the Lower, Middle and Upper Palaeolithic Age. The oldest settlement in Anatolia dating to this age is Yanmburgaz Gave near Küçükçekmece Lake, starting from the Lower Palaeolithic Age and continuing until the Roman and Byzantine Periods. The very primitive flint stones and mammals bones found in this cave consisting of 16 layers, are important artifacts of the Lower Palaeolithic Age. Karain Cave, situated about 30 km. to the south west of Antalya, is a significant place of settlement in Anatolia after Yanmburgaz. Eight layers from the end of the Lower Palaeolithic Age to the Roman Age have been uncovered in this cave, which provided shelter at every stage due to its location. A stove and some firewood remnants belonging to the Middle Palaeolithic Age show that these people discovered fire and cooked. Traces of animals such as bison, oxen, horses, deer, cows, pigs and bears are indicators that they mastered hunting.

The Upper Palaeolithic Period was a scene to a cold climate and despite its short duration, brought about some development. Within this period, human being with characteristics of their modern-day counterparts-namely a thinking type of human being-appeared.

They made tools such as needles and awls from bones. They engaged in some new artistic endeavors such as adorning the walls of Karain and Oküzini Caves around Antalya with the pictures of animals they saw including goats and deer. They also created illustrations on top of small stones found in Beldibi Cave with the scraping technique. In Anatolia, illustrations belonging to this period can also be seen in Adıyaman Palanlı, Kars Çamuşlu, Tirşin Plateau in Hakkari and on the Cilo Mountains. Many samples of this age are also found in places other than Anatolia, When the Ice Age ended towards the end of the Palaeolithic Age, the Mesolithic (Epipalaeolithic) Period-also known as the Middle Stone Age-paved the transition to the Neolithic Age. Important technological developments in hunting took place in this Period. New weapons like bows and arrows replaced the cumbersome weapons, and more importantly, small stone tools made of obsidian and flint stone were produced. Furthermore, mortars and grinding stones as well as obsidian-jagged and horn-handled sickles reveal that these people not only sowed grains but also reaped them. Karain, Oküzini, Beldibi and Belbaşı caves in Antalya, and Şarklı Cave in Gaziantep; Baradız in Burdur, Söğüt Tarlası and Biris cemeteries in Şanlıurfa Bozova are centers representing this period.