Speleothems Of Catalhoyuk, Turkey

Abstract

Speleothem samples such as flowstone, stalagmite and stalactites are one of the important finds at Catalhoyuk, which they have been carried hundreds of kilometers from its source. The "Catalhoyuk Speleothem Project" have been initiated with the aim of investigating Catalhoyuk's speleothems and identifying their provenance. In order to achieve this, speleothem samples at Catalhoyuk have been recognized and documented, and caves around Catalhoyuk have been investigated. Later, both selected Catalhoyuk speleothem and cave samples of flowstone, stalagmite and stalactites have been analysed by ICP-MS to recognize similar trace elements. In addition, the ages of samples have been obtained by U-Th method to find similarities between the Catalhoyuk samples and speleothem deposits from surrounding caves. The comparative results have been used to identify the sources of Catalhoyuk's speleothems.