Caves of Turkey

Abstract

Currently it is believed that civilization started with agricultural settlements and that immigrating groups of people had a primitive way of life within their natural environment. According to this point of view, caves have been accepted as habitats which reveal good traces of prehistoric life. However, taking a closer look at the beginning of the process, it can be clearly seen that caves were not only used by primitive people as functional (and advantageous) shelters, but have also been used by the first agricultural societies and even by urban societies following them. Thus caves can be seen as shelters which reveal detailed information about the development of various cultures. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.