Earliest hominin and non-hominin inhabitants of Cappadocia, Turkey

Project information
Project duration
-
Funded by
Multiple sources
Project funder
Project coordinator
University of Oulu
Unit and faculty
Contact information
Project leader
- Academy FellowFerhat Kaya
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 These newly discovered and unpublished sites are exceptionally rich in faunal remains, including species of rhinos, elephants, bovids, suids, giraffes, carnivores, primates, and small mammals.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.