Yarımburgaz Caves

Yarımburgaz Cave is located on Kayabaşı Road in Altınşehir Borough of the Başakşehir district of Istanbul and it is one of the oldest settlements in the world. It is believed that the cave, which has important historical traces of the Paleolithic age, may belong to the Lower/Middle Pleistocene or Middle Pleistocene.

Evidence indicating that it is the oldest settlement in Turkey suggests that the 400-thousand-year-old cave may have also influenced the settlement of the European continent. The first name who mentioned Yarımburgaz cave, which was formed 1.8 million years ago, was Macarlı İbrahim Bey, and he was a teacher of Geology and Mines in Mekteb-i Tıbbıye-i Şahane with his two articles issued in 1869 and 1870. Archaeological studies were initiated by Şevket Aziz Kansu. 

The cave is 15 meters above the Sea Level of Marmara. It is assumed that with the influence of environmental conditions this was at a different height in ancient times. There are old ship paintings on the walls. In this aspect, it is believed that it may have been a warehouse that was on the coast of the sea thousands of years ago. 

Yarımburgaz Caves, one of the first settlements in the world, registered as a first-degree archaeological asset in 1977, are among the legacies that shed light on human history in terms of providing the oldest human-related findings in Turkey.