Archaeologists discovered stone artefacts in the area of Tozkoparan village, Tunceli province in East Turkey, dating back to the Palaeolithic and Neolithic periods.

The artefacts were found by archaeologists conducting their second season of excavations in at a sit of a mound at Tozkoparan. In addition to Paleolithic artefacts, the archaeologists also found items from the Neolithic age. Archaeologists state that the people inhabiting the site were probably part of the populations that turned to settled life from places further south, known from sites in the provinces of Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır and Gaziantep. However, it was not expected that these people came so far north. While some of the stone tools found at the site were made from local stone, others used a kind of obsidian from Bingöl 150 kilometres away, suggesting that the toolmakers either travelled to Bingöl or traded with people there.

(after Daily Sabah & Anadolu Agency Photo)