Earliest hominin and non-hominin inhabitants of Cappadocia, Turkey

Mio-Pliocene (9 to 4 million years) fossil records of Central Anatolian mammals including our early ancestors show strong ecological and biogeographical affinities with the East African faunas and hominins. This project focuses to examine the evolutionary and ecological connections between Central Anatolia and East Africa faunas to investigate the origin and dispersal of our early ancestors.

A view from the excavation site in Sofular (Central Anatolia, Turkey)

Project information

Project duration

01.01.2022 - 31.12.2026

Funded by

Multiple sources

Project funder

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Republic of Turkey

University of California, Berkeley (USA)

Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality

Project coordinator

University of Oulu

Unit and faculty

History, Culture and Communication Studies

Faculty of Humanities

Contact information

Project leader

Academy Fellow

Ferhat Kaya

Other project personnel

Project description

The Cappadocia Paleontological Research Project addresses major research questions related to the disappearance of the Old-World Savanna Paleobiome at the end of the Miocene and its biogeographical connections with the Plio-Pleistocene East African savanna faunas (Kaya et al., 2018). Understanding the evolution and dispersal of early hominins within an ecological context in the Eastern Mediterranean and East Africa holds a pivotal place in this research initiative. Three Late Miocene paleontological excavations at the Yeniyaylacık, Sofular, and Taşhan sites in Central Anatolia, Turkey, provide the study material for this project. These newly discovered and unpublished sites are exceptionally rich in faunal remains, including species of rhinos, elephants, bovids, suids, giraffes, carnivores, primates, and small mammals. They offer promising insights into the geological and ecological changes that occurred between approximately 10 and 4 million years ago in the Eastern Mediterranean. This research received financial support by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey, the University of California, Berkeley, and the Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality.

Project results

Tholt, A., Kaya, F., White, T. et al. 2025. Building Better Biochronology: New Fossils and 40Ar/39Ar Radioisotopic Dates from Central Anatolia. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A (In Press).

Bernor, R. L., Ataabadi, M. M., Basoglu, O., Cirilli, O., Kaya, F., Pehlevan, C., ... & Arab, A. L. 2024. Cormohipparion cappadocium, a new species from the Late Miocene of Yeniyaylacık, Türkiye, and the emergence of western Eurasian hipparion bioprovinciality. In Annales Zoologici Fennici (Vol. 61, No. 1, pp. 303-333). Finnish Zoological and Botanical Publishing Board.