The archaeological and technical questions about ancient stone
tools lead to various research activities such as chemical and
petrographical analysis.
Considering research areas and publications it can be suggested
that mineralogical studies of stone samples of ancient stone tools have
disclosed useful information concerning identification of the stone.
Within this context, aim of this study is to determine the chemical,
mineralogical and petrographical identities of the stone samples of Karain
Cave (Antalya).
Most paleolithic caves show one specific time interval layer but Karain Cave
shows lower-upper and middle layers which give information about the
migration ways between Near East and Europe.
Stone tools excavated from Karain Cave are not only first human
remainings in Anatolia but also first artworks of Anatolian people.Most of
the stone tools excavated from Karain Cave are cherts. These cherts
were analysed for archeological aspects but mineralogical, petrographical,
and chemical contents have not been analysed yet. During the
excavations at the Karain Cave in Antalya many stone pieces in
different sizes and colors had been found. In this study ten samples were
examined. The methods used consists of thin section, X- ray powder
diffraction , scanning - electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive
X-ray analysis , differential thermal analyses and inductively coupled
plasma mass spectrometry to determine material characteristics of the
samples.
Petrographically the nine of the samples are chert with some including
radiolarian fossils. Microcrystalline á / - quartz is the major mineral in the
chert. Only one sample is composed calcite and is identified as micritic
limestone. Chemical analysis reflect the typical composition of chert with the
average values of / 40.9% Si and 1 sample is limestone, which is
composed of 35.7% Ca . Minor elements are Fe, Al, K, and Ti in the
samples. Thermal analysis is also supported the thin section studies.Further
research is suggested for provenance analysis of stone tools from the
Karain Cave.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:METU/oai:etd.lib.metu.edu.tr:http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12614110/index.pdf |
| Date | 01 February 2012 |
| Creators | Efe, Mehmet |
| Contributors | Turkmenoglu, Asuman Gunal |
| Publisher | METU |
| Source Sets | Middle East Technical Univ. |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | M.S. Thesis |
| Format | text/pdf |
| Rights | To liberate the content for public access |
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