Karain Mağarası Örnekleri Işığında Bark Extractor (Ağaç Kabuğu Soyucu): Yeni Bir Öneri

Abstract

Karain Cave, which has a key role in setting the Anatolian Prehistoric Chronology, is a highly important settlement that presents the findings of both the Pleistocene and Holocene periods through excavations in Chambers E and B. Chamber B, with its Pleistocene and Holocene stra- tigraphy, has a repertory of rich finds repertory related to the bone industry. One of the bone tool types within this industry, it was realized, has not evinced common views on its definition and function. As a result its techno-typological analyses have been the subject matter of this study. Additionally, varying views on the tool’s definition and function have been gathered and compared with findings obtained from other settlements. An evaluation was then made related to various denominations and functions included in this study. As experimental archaeology studies have gained in importance, data about a group of uses of the bone tools, which also includes the bone tool upon which this study focuses, could be reached through producing similar ones. As a result of these studies, the tool at issue can be definitively defined as a ‘Bark Extractor’in terms of functional features. The use of the bark extractor was widespread in many settlements including Karain Cave by the Neolithic period. It is an inevitable necessity to reach a consensus on the denomination and functional features of this tool. How often this bone tool was produced and used in Anatolia can be revealed only in this case. This study offers a cate- gory for the tool that is based on the findings from Karain Cave. In so doing, it is expected that using a category that signals its function could put an end to the confusion in the literature, and a better evaluation of the tool can be made.