For many of us, when we think of land bridges, we tend to think of Bering Land Bridge (actually more of a swamp) that old people crossed to reach North America from modern Siberia in the last ice age. But there may have been another, crucial stretch of land that helped the early human migration – this time, far across the continent, on the Anatolic coast.
It is the largest new finding from a team of Turkish archaeologists that have revealed over 100 stone riots from ten different places along the peninsula. They show that a land bridge that was now underwater had once existed between the western edge of Asia and Europe, enabling people to move between these regions. If their theory applies, it would reveal a previously unknown chapter in the story of human migration at a critical moment in our development and development as a kind.
An unexplored prehistoric region
“This study is investigating the paleolithic potential of Ayvalık, a region of western Anatolia, which has remained largely unexplored in Pleistocene Archaeology,” the researchers wrote in their study published Friday in the Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology. “These findings reveal a previously undocumented paleolithic presence and establishes Ayvalık as a promising locus for future research on early human spreads in the Northeast Aegean Sea.”
The Paleolithic period – about 2.6 million to 12,000 years ago – and the Pleistocene – Poken – about 2.5 million to 11,700 years ago – is aimed at roughly the same time period. The former is an anthropological expression, while the latter is a geological expression.
During the last ice age (between about 120,000 and 11,500 years ago), the landscape of the earth looked very different than today. In addition to Gargantuan amounts of ice, the sea surface was then significantly lower. Ayvalık’s islands and peninsula, for example, would have been part of a single stretch of land connecting Anatolia and Europe.
An unforgettable moment of discovery
Still have scholars long believed that Homo sapiens Mostly reached Europe from Africa by traveling through the Levant and the Balkans. But the newly discovered tools indicate that people were present in Ayvalık’s bygone landscapes. The researchers found pale policy hand axes, spits and levallois flake tools (stone tools that had sharp edges and were probably used as knives). The team claims that the results offer an alternative tale of early human migration.
“The presence of these objects in Ayvalık is particularly important as they provide direct proof that the region was part of wider technological traditions shared throughout Africa, Asia and Europe,” said Göknur Karahan, an archaeologist from Hacettepe University, in a statement.
“It was a really unforgettable moment for us. Keeping the first tools in our hands were both emotional and inspiring,” Karahan added.
Substantive artifact dating, stratigraphic excavations and reconstructions of the old environment will be decisive to determine whether their theory is correct, including possibly searching for artifacts at the bottom of the Aegean Sea.