The beginning of the holocene in Cappadocia region: Climate, environment, community at the onset of sedentism

Throughout the period of their existence, prehistoric communities have been in close relationship and harmony with their environment, with various daily activities, different organizations, motivations that hold the community together and support their social structures. Southwest Asia is one of the first centers to adopt sedentism, and thus, to observe some changes in daily life habits and strategies of communities. The process in which these new life models began to emerge brought some changes in the modification and adaptation forms of some plant and animal species that survive in their environment. Cappadocia region in this geography is one of the key regions in understanding transition processes to the onset of sedentism, by the reasons both its environmental characteristics and resources, and in terms of the interactions of local/visitor communities in different relations with it. With the end of the Last Glacial Period, more humid and mild climate conditions have become more stable over time and their effects have shown on hydrology and vegetative environment on a global scale. In this study, the climatic and environmental effects of Holocene Period in Cappadocia are discussed in detail in terms of the both geographical and special characteristics of the location of the zone with neighboring regions. Within this framework, the data from the first communities that started to adopt sedentary life as known to exist in the region were evaluated in terms of their relations with environmental aspects. Paleoclimate and environmental data is obtained from regional proxies and supported by the documents on environmental fauna and flora which are obtained from archaeological contexts have been taken into consideration as the main reference sources in evaluating communities and environment interaction. Moreover, the geological structure of the region, today's environmental conditions and climate data also serve as a reference in the context of understanding the ecosystem in the early Holocene. With this study, it is aimed to make a general assessment in the context of climate-environment-community, taking into account the data obtained in recent years on the social structures of the communities, the way they interact with the environment and their preferences at the onset of sedentary life in the Cappadocia region. Keywords: Cappadocia, Neolithic, Central Anatolia, Early Holocene, Climate, Environment-Community.