29 March 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

The unknown importance of Göllü Dağ on the route of the first humans’ Transition from Africa to Europe

The researches conducted in Göllü Dağ and its surroundings, located within the borders of Niğde province in Central Anatolia, and the Obsidian resources and workshops discovered in the region in the 1960s may change the route of the migration routes where the first humans spread from Africa to the world.

As a result of the researches, it has been revealed that the use of obsidian in the region has been one of the places preferred by people in terms of raw materials since the Lower Paleolithic period (800.000).

Göllü Dağ, located in the northeast of Niğde province, is a stratovolcano with a diameter of 12 km.

Obsidians extracted from the region were imported to the Levant region and Cyprus. Although the relationships and distribution strategies are still unknown, researches conducted in these regions show that the origin of obsidian belongs to the Göllü Dağ region.

Surveys in many parts of Anatolia, mostly secondary and non-in situ finds, indicate that Anatolia was home to a dense human group during the Middle Pleistocene.

Excavations at Kaletepe in Niğde province are also important in terms of showing the diversity of human groups in the Middle Pleistocene period in this region. The lower layers of the Kaletepe sequence locked between 160/200,000 – 1,000,000 are very important.

The 40,000-Year-Old Obsidian Tool Found in Syria Was Brought From Central Anatolia.
The 40,000-Year-Old Obsidian Tool Found in Syria Was Brought From Central Anatolia. Map showing obsidian sources (triangles) and Late Stone Age sites (boxes) in southwest Asia. The red line shows the shortest route, about 700 kilometers, from the obsidian source in central Turkey to Syria’s Yabroud II rock shelter. The blue line shows the shortest, approximately 450-kilometer route from the obsidian source in Southeast Anatolia to the Shanidar Cave in Northern Iraq. P: Frahm, Hauck.

Research conducted in Kaletepe shows that after the group that made axes using obsidian, a group that did not know this technique lived in the same region.

Chronologically, the group that knows how to design is older than the group that doesn’t. This situation shows the existence of different evolved groups, at least technically, in the Anatolian sub-paleolithic.

Homo erectus, which emerged from Africa around 1.300.000 – 1.000.000 years, split into two after the Near East and headed towards Asia and Europe. In this period, the place of Anatolia in this migration route was ignored, and the Caucasus and North Black Sea steppes were shown as distribution routes.

The 40,000-year-old obsidian tool found in Syria was brought by hunter-gatherers from Göllü Dağ in Central Anatolia, at least 700 kilometers away. Photo: Ellery Frahm
The 40,000-year-old obsidian tool found in Syria was brought by hunter-gatherers from Göllü Dağ in Central Anatolia, at least 700 kilometers away. Photo: Ellery Frahm

However, as the Göllü Dağ finds show the existence of Homo erectus, the results of the examination of their tools also point to different Homo erectus groups with different technical skills.

An important part of the Göllü Dağ finds belongs to the Middle Paleolithic. These finds are cores exhibiting the technique used by Neanderthals. These beans have a processing technique called Levallois. In addition, the diversity of nuclei also constitutes evidence for the existence of different human groups.

The researches in the region started with the excavations started by Remzi Oğuz Arık in 1934 and were continued by Burhan Tezcan in 1968-69 and Wulf Schirmer in 1992-98, respectively.

During the excavations carried out in 1996, it was determined that the first people used these areas during their transition from Africa to Europe.

During these research excavations, a settlement belonging to the Late Hittite Kingdoms period was also unearthed.

In this article, excerpts are made from Professor Nur Balkan Atlı’s article titled “Kaletepe Obsidiyen Atölyesi Kazısı ve Göllü Dağ Obsidiyen Projesi”.

Cover Photo: @ekonyar

Related Articles

“Mosaic of the Wine Harvest” mosaic to be exhibited in November in Turkey’s Hatay

26 October 2021

26 October 2021

The mosaic depicting the grape harvest, which is considered to date from the Late Roman period, equivalent to the 5th...

Ancient Sarmatian Treasures, Including 370 Grams of Gold Bracelet, and Burial Sites Discovered in Kazakhstan’s Atyrau Region

10 February 2025

10 February 2025

During excavations at the Karabau-2 mound in Kazakhstan’s Atyrau region, archaeologists made a remarkable discovery, unearthing nine graves—seven of which...

Remains of a 5-year-old girl found under Real Alcázar in Spain

9 May 2021

9 May 2021

The body of a five-year-old fair-haired girl who lived in the late Middle Ages and was most likely of noble...

The remains of two new Doric temples are discovered under the Italian site of Paestum

15 January 2024

15 January 2024

Archaeologists have unearthed two new temples in the Doric style in Paestum, an ancient Greek colony in southern Italy. The...

British archaeologists unearth the 1200-year-old man-made island

13 February 2022

13 February 2022

A team holding excavations and archaeological surveys on the historic Al Sayah Island in Muharraq, Bahrain found that it’s ‘man-made’,...

In France, a burial with six ankle bracelets was uncovered

22 December 2022

22 December 2022

An individual bedecked in copper jewelry was discovered during the excavation of a protohistoric necropolis in Aubagne, southeastern France. The...

Archaeologists discovered the first evidence of early administrative management in eastern Iran

21 June 2022

21 June 2022

Iranian archaeologists believe they have discovered the first evidence of early administrative management in an eastern Iranian province, which they...

The ancient city of Kastabala will soon have a colonnaded Street

4 September 2021

4 September 2021

The archaeological excavation of the ancient city of Kastabala in Osmaniye Province in southern Turkey continues. Kastabala-Hierapolis is one of...

Analyses of a 2,900-year-old iron chisel from Portugal revealed surprisingly high-quality steel

22 September 2023

22 September 2023

Steel tools were believed to have only become widespread in Europe during the Roman Empire, but a recent study shows...

Thracian Horseman Votive Tablet Discovered in Bulgaria

28 July 2023

28 July 2023

A stone votive relief depicting a Thracian horseman was found during excavations at the ancient city of Heraclea Sintica, located...

“Nikasitimos Was Here Mounting Timiona,” 2,500-year-old erotic graffiti on Astypalaia, Greece

7 April 2024

7 April 2024

In 2014, an archaeologist working on Astypalaia, a remote Greek island of the Dodecanese discovered one of the world’s oldest...

Surprising Genetic Findings from Early Middle Ages Burial Sites in Austria

22 January 2025

22 January 2025

In a groundbreaking archeogenetic study, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, in collaboration with an international team,...

5,000-year-old Ceremonial Temple Discovered in Peru

9 July 2024

9 July 2024

Archaeologists from the Peru Ministry of Culture have discovered an ancient ceremonial temple complex at Los Paredones de la Otra...

Scientists have discovered an ancient cemetery of flying reptiles roaming the Atacama desert of Chile 100 million years ago

7 April 2022

7 April 2022

In Chile, an unusual cemetery has been discovered that contains the well-preserved remains of prehistoric flying reptiles that flew over...

A 2,000-year-old Roman grave belonging to soldier Flaccus unearthed in Netherlands

9 December 2024

9 December 2024

Archaeologists have uncovered a 2,000-year-old grave from the Roman settlement in Heerlen, Netherlands. The latest analysis has shown that it...