Early Palaeolithic evidence from the Euphrates River basin, Eastern Turkey

Early Palaeolithic finds older than Acheulean were unknown in Eastern Anatolia until recently. During exploratory works carried out by a joint Russian-Turkish expedition in the Euphrates River basin (2014–2016), several stratified Early Palaeolithic localities were found. Lithic finds are represented by choppers, picks, retouched tools, and flakes. A similar stone tool industry has been found in the Caucasus (Armenia, Dagestan). In addition to the archaeological typological dating of lithic tools in eastern Turkey, geomorphological, stratigraphic, paleontological, and paleomagnetic records also confirm the Early Pleistocene age of the localities. Some of these sites are dated to before the Olduvai subchron, i.e., ∼2 Ma. New Early Palaeolithic discoveries in Eastern Turkey are important for the study of the oldest human cultures of the Middle East and the Caucasus. Acheulean and Middle Palaeolithic stone tools were also found in the lower river terraces of tributaries of the Euphrates, south of the Taurus Mountains. These finds were used to date the terraces.