Abstract:

The 2016 and 2017 seasons of the "Early Prehistory and Cilicia Basalt Locations Project" recorded prehistoric chipped stone across basaltic landscapes in southeastern Adana. Among the survey results are the first Middle Epipalaeolithic (16th-13th millennia BC) chipped stone and the first Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites (9th-8th millennia BC) for Adana, and also Ceramic Neolithic and later prehistoric (7th-3rd millennia BC) chipped flint and obsidian. These survey results open numerous important research questions, among them the character of human adaptations in Adana at the end of the Pleistocene, Adana's role in the development and spread of agriculture, prehistoric distribution networks of raw materials for chipped stone industries, and land-use patterns during late prehistoric in eastern Cilicia. This contribution to the conference presents the chipped stone discovered by the survey, and discusses the significance of the chipped stone for the above-mentioned research topics.

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