Interactions, communication and tradition: The personal ornaments of Suluin cave (Antalya, Turkey) in late Neolithic context

Abstract

The cave site of Suluin, inhabited for a short time around 6000 cal BCE, is located close to Antalya, slightly inland from the south coast of Turkey. The ornaments of this period are not well known in the region and the intensive excavation methodology applied at Suluin has ensured that all ornament-related material, including preforms, production wasters and fragments, was recovered meaning that the evidence presented here gives a comprehensive view of ornament deposition at the site. The ornaments show that Suluin was a well-connected small settlement, with material that travelled from the Euphrates basin, and bead types, technologies and materials that are shared with areas ranging from Syria to west and northwest Turkey. This article places the materials, technology and use of ornaments at the site within their wider late Neolithic context by considering possible exchange of ornaments and shared material culture practices and asking whether this might help us to understand processes of material culture change during prehistory.