Technological and typological analysis of Gaziantep University No: 002 Palaeolithic Age chipped stones locality

Gaziantep, located in the Southeastern Anatolia region of Turkey, contains the most important Paleolithic Age sites, researched in Turkey. From the beginning of the 20th century to the today, many researchers have made researches in Gaziantep and also they have indicated that the region was heavily inhabited during the Paleolithic periods. The main factors in the settlement of the Paleolithic people are the livability of the Gaziantep climate, the abundance of natural resources and the intense resources of flint raw materials. In addition to this, the fact that Gaziantep -due to its location- is on a transit route for the spreading of people to Eurasia in the Paleolithic period shows also how rich the region was in terms of Paleolithic ages. In this thesis study, the region called the GAÜN 002 locality, located in Gaziantep University was scanned. 7155 chipped stone finds were identified. The finds involves the basic tools of the Lower-Middle Paleolithic period; hand axes, chopper and chopper tools, technological elements with levallois and without levallois. The use of the flint raw material source in the GAÜN 002 locality by the people of the Paleolithic period in the production of tools allows us to understand the raw material-tool-human relationship. The GAÜN 002 locality is similar to other lower Palaeolithic settlements in Anatolia, Syria and the Levant. Especially the similarity of chipped stone technology in Middle/Late Acheulean and Middle Paleolithic settlements enables us to understand the interaction and development of chipped stone technology in this region.