Wild animal remains in Western Anatolia from the Paleolithic Age to the Iron Age

Within the scope of this thesis, archaeozoological finds from the Paleolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze Age excavations in Western Anatolia are analyzed. These finds provide important information on how people used food economy, hunting methods and environmental factors. People used the forest if there was a forest in their environment and the resources offered by the sea if there was a sea. The recovery of animal remains that were not found in the environment shows that there was trade. It is known that in the Paleolithic Age, people completely dominated wild animals and animal diversity was high. The Neolithic Period is a process in which people started agricultural activities with the transition to settled life, adopted farming and started the process of domestication by raising livestock. Domestication continued in the Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages and hunting of wild animals contributed to the food economy in this process. In this thesis, the regional similarities and differences were comprehensively examined and concluded by taking into account the data of the settlements where archaeozoological studies were carried out in the above-mentioned periods.