Yarimburgaz Cave () is a

cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

of significant archaeological and paleontological importance, located within

Istanbul Province Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, Turkey.

Location

Yarımburgaz Cave is approximately west of the city of

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, and about north of

Lake Küçükçekmece Lake Küçükçekmece () is a lagoon located between the Küçükçekmece, Esenyurt and Avcılar districts of the European portion of Istanbul Province, northwestern Turkey. The lake is neighbored in the south by state road D.100 and in the nort ...

and south of Sazlıdere Dam. It is situated in a locality known today as Altınşehir, within the neighborhood of Güvercintepe in

Başakşehir Başakşehir is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Istanbul Province, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 107 km2, and its population is 514,900 (2022). It is in the European part of Istanbul. The district is home to İsta ...

district.

Geology and formation

The cave was formed as a result of a

subterranean river A subterranean river (also known as an underground river) is a river or watercourse that runs wholly or partly beneath the ground, one where the riverbed does not represent the surface of the Earth. It is distinct from an aquifer, which may flow ...

eroding an ancient limestone formation. It has two entrances, one above the other. The lower entrance is at an altitude of

AMSL Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level v ...

, which the upper entrance is situated above. The cave is on the eastern bank of the Sazlıdere creek, which empties into Lake Küçükçekmece. The entrances face southwards overlooking Sazlıdere Valley. Whereas the lower cave has a length of , the upper is only long. After about inside, a short, sloping passage connects both caves. The lower cave is in the form of a meandering tunnel, forking into two at a distance of from the mouth. The upper cave's chamber is wide and in height.

Scientific research

The cave is an important

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

site which has been researched by

archeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes. Archaeol ...

paleontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

s, geoarchaeologists and biospeleologists. Scientific exploration of the cave began in the mid-19th century.

Excavation Excavation may refer to: * Archaeological excavation * Excavation (medicine) * ''Excavation'' (The Haxan Cloak album), 2013 * ''Excavation'' (Ben Monder album), 2000 * ''Excavation'' (novel), a 2000 novel by James Rollins * '' Excavation: A Mem ...

attempts made in 1920 were followed by systematic archaeological work in the 1980s financially supported by the

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, natural sc ...

. In the

Byzantine era The Byzantine calendar, also called the Roman calendar, the Creation Era of Constantinople or the Era of the World (, also or ; 'Roman year since the creation of the universe', abbreviated as ε.Κ.), was the calendar used by the Eastern Orth ...

, a cave-church was carved into the walls of the upper cave, and a monastery was built outside the cave mouth. Although these alterations may have resulted in the loss of prehistoric material, some artefacts remain in the cave. In the upper cave, traces of settlements were found dating back to the

Upper Paleolithic The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories ...

subdivision of the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...

up until the

Chalcolithic The Chalcolithic ( ) (also called the Copper Age and Eneolithic) was an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper. It followed the Neolithic and preceded the Bronze Age. It occurred at different periods in di ...

period of the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

. These traces were lying on beach sand from the last interglacial period and beneath debris from

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

and later times. The beach sand covers

sediment Sediment is a solid material that is transported to a new location where it is deposited. It occurs naturally and, through the processes of weathering and erosion, is broken down and subsequently sediment transport, transported by the action of ...

s with

Lower Paleolithic The Lower Paleolithic (or Lower Palaeolithic) is the earliest subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. It spans the time from around 3.3 million years ago when the first evidence for stone tool production and use by hominins appears ...

artifacts. The upper cave was destroyed by

treasure hunting Treasure hunting is the physical search for treasure. One of the most popular types of modern day treasure hunters are historic shipwreck salvors. These underwater treasure salvors try to find sunken Shipwreck, shipwrecks and retrieve artifacts ...

and illicit diggings, which left -deep pits. Unlike the prehistoric deposits found in the lower cave, the upper cave lacks any evidence of debris from that era. The existence of paleontological and archaeological findings point towards the use of the cave as a

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are Hominidae, great apes characterized by their Prehistory of nakedness and clothing ...

and an

animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Biology, biological Kingdom (biology), kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, ...

habitat, alternatively. The finds include bones of

herbivore A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet. These more broadly also encompass animals that eat ...

and

carnivore A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they ar ...

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

s, marine and freshwater

mollusc Mollusca is a phylum of protostome, protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum ...

microfauna Microfauna ( and ) are microscopic animals and organisms that exhibit animal-like qualities and have body sizes that are usually <0.1 mm. Microfauna are represented in the animal kingdom (e.g.

as well as artifacts like

potsherd This page is a glossary of archaeology, the study of the human past from material remains. A B C D E F ...

s, knives on

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

oldowan The Oldowan (or Mode I) was a widespread stone tool archaeological industry during the early Lower Paleolithic spanning the late Pliocene and the first half of the Early Pleistocene. These early tools were simple, usually made by chipping one ...

s, choppers and

hammerstone In archaeology, a hammerstone is a hard cobble used to strike off lithic flakes from a lump of tool stone during the process of lithic reduction. The hammerstone is a rather universal stone tool which appeared early in most regions of the wo ...

s on

quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock that was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tecton ...

, as well as manuports. The wide variety of prehistoric faunal specimens belong to bones of herbivore mammals such as cave bears (''

Ursus deningeri ''Ursus deningeri'' (Deninger's bear) is an extinct species of bear, endemic to Eurasia during the Pleistocene for approximately 1.7 million years, from . The range of this bear has been found to encompass both Europe and Asia, demonstrating the ...

''), horses ('' Equus caballus''), wild boars (''

Sus scrofa The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is n ...

''), fallow deer (''

Dama dama The European fallow deer (''Dama dama''), also known as the common fallow deer or simply fallow deer, is a species of deer native to Eurasia. It is one of two living species of fallow deer alongside the Persian fallow deer (''Dama mesopotamica'' ...

''), roe deer ('' Capreolus capreolus''), deer (''

Megaloceros ''Megaloceros'' (from Greek: + , literally "Great Horn"; see also Lister (1987)) is an extinct genus of deer whose members lived throughout Eurasia from the Pleistocene to the early Holocene. The type and only undisputed member of the genus ...

''), cattle (''

Bos ''Bos'' (from Latin '' bōs'': cow, ox, bull) is a genus of bovines, which includes, among others, wild and domestic cattle. ''Bos'' is often divided into four subgenera: ''Bos'', ''Bibos'', ''Novibos'', and ''Poephagus'', but including t ...

''/''

Bison A bison (: bison) is a large bovine in the genus ''Bison'' (from Greek, meaning 'wild ox') within the tribe Bovini. Two extant taxon, extant and numerous extinction, extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American ...

''), antilopes (''

Gazella A gazelle is one of many antelope species in the genus ''Gazella'' . There are also seven species included in two further genera; '' Eudorcas'' and '' Nanger'', which were formerly considered subgenera of ''Gazella''. A third former subgenus, ' ...

''), goats ('' Capra''), and carnivores such as wolves and dogs (''

Canis ''Canis'' is a genus of the Caninae which includes multiple extant taxon, extant species, such as Wolf, wolves, dogs, coyotes, and golden jackals. Species of this genus are distinguished by their moderate to large size, their massive, well-develo ...

''), foxes (''

Vulpes '' Vulpes '' is a genus of the subfamily Caninae. The members of this genus are colloquially referred to as true foxes, meaning they form a proper clade. The word "fox" occurs in the common names of all species of the genus, but also appears in ...

''), tigers (''

Panthera ''Panthera'' is a genus within the family (biology), family Felidae, and one of two extant genera in the subfamily Pantherinae. It contains the largest living members of the cat family. There are five living species: the jaguar, leopard, lion, ...

''), cats (''

Felis ''Felis'' is a genus of small and medium-sized cat species native to most of Africa and south of 60° latitude in Europe and Asia to Indochina. The genus includes the domestic cat. The smallest of the seven ''Felis'' species is the black-footed ...

'') and hyenas (''

Crocuta ''Crocuta'' is a genus of hyena containing the largest extant member of the family, the spotted hyena ''(Crocuta crocuta)''. Several fossil species are also known, with the Pleistocene Eurasian cave hyenas either being regarded as distinct speci ...

''). Findings of "more than 5000 fossil bones and teeth of cave and brown bears", which provide some chronological indicators, led to their extensive scientific study. Another subject of such extensive study were the fossils of several species of

Middle Pleistocene The Chibanian, more widely known as the Middle Pleistocene (its previous informal name), is an Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale or a Stage (stratigraphy), stage in chronostratigraphy, being a division of the Pleistocen ...

bats (

Chiroptera Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

), including horseshoe bats ('' Rhinolophus''), mouse-eared bats (''

Myotis The mouse-eared bats or myotises are a diverse and widespread genus (''Myotis'') of bats within the family Vespertilionidae. The noun "''myotis''" itself is a Neo-Latin construction, from the Greek "''muós'' (meaning "mouse") and "''oûs''" ( ...

''), long-eared bats (''

Plecotus ''Plecotus'' is a genus of vesper bat, commonly called long-eared bats. They are found throughout Eurasia and northern Africa. Many species in the genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family ...

'') and bent-winged bats (''

Miniopterus ''Miniopterus'', known as the bent-winged or long winged bats, is the sole genus of the family Miniopteridae. They are small flying insectivorous mammals, micro-bats of the order Chiroptera, with wings over twice the length of the body. The genus ...

''). Some artifacts found in Yarımburgaz Cave are exhibited in the

Istanbul Archaeology Museums The Istanbul Archaeology Museums () are a group of three archaeological museums located in the Eminönü quarter of Istanbul, Turkey, near Gülhane Park and Topkapı Palace. These museums house over one million objects from nearly all periods an ...

. In 2001, Yarımburgaz Cave was declared an archaeological-nature reserve of first grade. It is also listed as "Cultural Property under Enhanced Protection".

Human impact

During the last two decades, the cave suffered serious, irreversible damage caused by the external interactions of humans. Following scientific excavations inside the cave, and the related publications in the 1990s, the cave gained wide popularity. For this reason, it was brought to the attention of several picnickers, treasure hunters, illegal explorers, amateur

speleologist Speleology () is the scientific study of caves and other karst features, as well as their composition, structure, physical properties, history, ecology, and the processes by which they form (speleogenesis) and change over time (speleomorpholog ...

s and archaeologists due to its past use as a historic cave-church and its proximity to the city center. In order to prevent further damage, the cave was closed off with iron bar gates during the scientific excavations between 1988 and 1990. However, because of neglect by the respective authorities, the gates lost their function in later years, and the cave would inevitably become a shelter frequented by drug users and prostitutes, who littered it. Currently, the cave walls are painted and scratched with

graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...

. To establish a mushroom farm inside the cave, the cave grounds were leveled by a grader. The mouth of the cave was enlarged even to enable the grader's entry. The cave was also used several times as a setting in filmmaking and television productions that left permanent modifications inside the cave. The cave featured in the 1971 movie ''Ali Baba ve Kırk Haramiler'' (English: "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves"), based on the folk tale

Ali Baba "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" () is a folk tale in Arabic added to the ''One Thousand and One Nights'' in the 18th century by its French translator Antoine Galland, who heard it from Syrian storyteller Hanna Diyab. As one of the most popu ...

, with a role as the treasure cave that opens with the

magic word Magic words are phrases used in fantasy fiction or by Magic (illusion), stage magicians. Frequently such words are presented as being part of a Divine language, divine, Adamic language, adamic, or other Twilight language, secret or Language of t ...

s " open sesame" and closes off with "close sesame", respectively. For the filming of an episode of the television series ''Küçük Ağa'' (English: "Little Agha"), historic

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

s on the cave walls were scratched off and removed, and some of them were painted over with exit signs. During the filming of the

science-fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, sp ...

movie ''Yorr’un Öyküsü'' (English: "The Story of Yorr"), a large pool was built inside the cave, which was then detonated by explosives according to the scenario. The cave also became a setting for the television comedy series ''

Leyla ile Mecnun ''Leyla ile Mecnun'' (''Leyla and Mecnun'') is a Turkish television comedy series. The series, set in Istanbul and directed by Onur Ünlü, premiered in 2011 on TRT. It is a surreal, absurdist comedy revolving around the parody of the poetic ...

'' produced by the state-owned

Turkish Radio and Television Corporation The Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT; Turkish: ) is the national public broadcasting, public broadcaster of Turkey, founded in 1964. TRT was for many years the only television and radio broadcaster in Turkey. Before the introductio ...

(TRT), in which fire was set to depict hell. The filming of some episodes of the television series ''

Muhteşem Yüzyıl ''Muhteşem Yüzyıl'' (, ) is a Turkish historical drama series. Written by Meral Okay and Yılmaz Şahin, it is based on the life of Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, the longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and his wife Hür ...

'' (English: "The Magnificent Century"), a prime-time historical

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

, inside the cave without proper permission allegedly caused damage to the cave. As such, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism filed a complaint against the producers. A group of local politicians inspected the cave in February 2015, and reported that the cave's protection is still neglected despite its importance and status.

References

External links