Kerdemelik
The Kerdemelik site is a courtyard (1-4) surrounded by rocks which is entered through a rock arch (5-6). A sign (7) was painted in red on the underside of the weathered roof of this arch. At the southern end of the courtyard lies a massive block, weathered on the underside, forming a double cave. The spectrum of lithic finds here covers an astonishingly wide range. Apart from common artefacts made of rock material, such as grind stones and pestles, there is also a probable mould for axe blades made of meta-bauxite and two whetstones which deserve special attention here. The so-called shaft smoothing tool (8-9) falls into the category of ‘ribbed stones’. These appear in the eastern Mediterranean and Near East for the first time in Epipalaeolithic contexts and continued in use into the Neolithic era (approx. 12th-7th millennia bc). A further object found made of basalt is possibly also a whetstone (10).