Kaletepe Deresi 3 (Turkey)

Definition: The site of Kaletepe Deresi 3 is located in the Göllü Dag region of central Turkey, and it contains at least three Middle and Lower Paleolithic archaeological components. The Göllü Dag region is known for its volcanoes, and Kaletepe Deresi is located near a source of obsidian, which was a highly regarded raw source material for stone tools which was traded widely throughout prehistory.

The artifact assemblage is primarily of stone tools and debitage; faunal remains are limited to a single equid (extinct horse) mandible and isolated teeth in one of the Middle Paleolithic levels.

The most recent phase at Kalatepe Deresi is a Middle Paleolithic site, with Levallois debitage and Mousterian scrapers and points.

Two additional occupations lie below the Middle Paleolithic and they are interpreted as Acheulean Lower Paleolithic on the basis of the presence of heavy choppers and chopping tools, as well as bifacial handaxes. The cleavers from these layers are the first in situ cleavers found in Turkey; and Kaletepe Deresi 3 is the oldest stratified Paleolithic site yet known in Anatolia.

Sources

Thanks to archaeologist Berkay Dinçer for help with this entry. He has collected several photos of the site at his Flickr page, and was kind enough to share one on this page.

Slimak, Ludovic, et al. 2008 Kaletepe Deresi 3 (Turkey): Archaeological evidence for early human settlement in Central Anatolia. Journal of Human Evolution 54:99-111.

This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology.