Prehistoric Paintings in the Keçe Cave (Kahramanmaraş-Elbistan)

Abstract

The Keçe Cave is located about 40 km north of the district of Kahramanmaraş/Elbistan. One of the most important features of this cave is that it contains traces of life belonging to different archaeological periods. The Paleolithic chipped-stone tools and other archaeological data uncovered around the cave revealed that this cave was a place where excavations should be carried out. The paintings found on the interior walls of one of the small caves are of great significance. All of these images are made by painting technique, and they describe a life story. There are various figures of human depictions, symbols, and signs in the paintings between the dotted bands. The color of the paint used in the paintings usually belongs to different shades of red, which is in shades of ocher. A small number of paintings feature different colors similar to purple and black. In this study, firstly the Keçe Cave will be mentioned, and then the emergence and types of the concept of art will be explained. Secondly, examples of the paintings identified in Anatolia will be mentioned. In the last section, the general features of the pictures in Keçe Cave will be explained.

Keywords

• Keçe Cave,Painting,Prehistoric Art,Elbistan Kahramanmaraş

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