CHANGING TIME, TRANSFORMATION OF THE PAST: NEOLITHIC OF THE VOLCANIC CAPPADOCIA

The transition from Epi-paleolithic to Neolithic is one of the most enigmatic social transformations in human history. Archaeologists have been tracing this radical transformation for over a century. New opinions come up with the fact that cultural interchange among communities living in the same region increased by the end of Epi-paleolithic at local scale, and inter-communal relationships triggered the onset of sedentism. Central Anatolian Plateau stands as a distinct region in the Neolithization process. Konya Plain and Cappadocia seem to have hosted various mobile forager groups prior to sedentism. These groups could have been both locals and foreigners. The main attraction for the foreign groups was the abundant raw materials available in volcanic Cappadocia. The Aşıklı people who settled on the banks of a river constructed a new lifestyle that lasted almost 1000 years. The critical question is where and how their ancestral past and legacy was forged. 25 years of research at Aşıklı has shown that they were fully conscious of the natural environment and ecosystem of the region.