Ferhat Kaya, PhD

The Baynunah Formation has produced a diverse assemblage of plant, invertebrate, and vertebrate fossils that provides the only window onto the terrestrial late Miocene record of the Arabian Peninsula. This chapter reviews and revises the age, biogeography, environments, and ecology of the Baynunah fauna. Biochronological estimates indicate an age of between 8 and 6 Ma, with several indicators favoring the older end of this range. Paleomagnetostratigraphic correlation more precisely favors an age between ~7.7 and 7.0 Ma, and a maximum duration of less than 720 kyr. Rough estimates of sedimentation rate based on assumptions of precessional control of carbonate formation in the upper parts of the Baynunah Formation here tentatively suggest a duration of ~250 kyr. The most common body fossils found are remains of fish (catfish and cichlids), turtles, and crocodiles, indicating the presence of a large but shallow and slow-moving river. A diverse community of mammalian herbivores subsiste...

Studies of horse evolution arose during the middle of the 19th century, and several hypotheses have been proposed for their taxonomy, paleobiogeography, paleoecology and evolution. The present contribution represents a collaboration of 19 multinational experts with the goal of providing an updated summary of Pliocene and Pleistocene North, Central and South American, Eurasian and African horses. At the present time, we recognize 114 valid species across these continents, plus 4 North African species in need of further investigation. Our biochronology and biogeography sections integrate Equinae taxonomic records with their chronologic and geographic ranges recognizing regional biochronologic frameworks. The paleoecology section provides insights into paleobotany and diet utilizing both the mesowear and light microscopic methods, along with calculation of body masses. We provide a temporal sequence of maps that render paleoclimatic conditions across these continents integrated with Eq...

<p>The Pikermian chronofauna is associated with C<sub>4</sub> vegetation and the potential hominin <em>Graecopithecus freybergi </em>in Greece and Bulgaria and forms part of the Old World Savannah Paleobiome. This study provides a new magnetostratigraphy for thestratigraphic interval that includes the Haliminhanı and Hayranlı mammal sites from the central Anatolian Sivas Basin (Turkey), which show high faunal similarities to the Pikermian chronofauna.</p><p>Dated sites harboring Pikermian fauna in Turkey, Greece, and Bulgaria range in age between 11 and 7.3 Ma. Based on biostratigraphy, the Haliminhanı and Hayranlı fossil horizons were previously placed within European Mammal Neogene (MN) zones MN11-MN12 (ca. 9 to 7 Ma). A new magnetostratigraphy in 140 m thick continental deposits refines the age estimate to 8.0–6.5 Ma for the fossil mammal-bearing levels of the Sivas Basin.</p><p>Negative covariance between δ<sup>13</sup>C and δ<sup>18</sup>O values of bulk carbonate from the fluvio-lacustrine beds indicates an open lake hydrology; δ<sup>13</sup>C and δ<sup>18</sup>O values suggest a positive water balance and no significant long-term changes in hydrology and primary productivity within the lake that once covered the Sivas Basin. Two intervals of increased δ<sup>13</sup>C (by ca. 6–8‰) within the section are followed by a similar decrease over total time intervals of ca. 150 kyr. An increase of biogenic productivity can increase δ<sup>13</sup>C in lacustrine carbonate and may either result from changes in nutrient input or temperature. The absence of simultaneous changes in δ<sup>18</sup>O during peaks in δ<sup>13</sup>C make temperature an unlikely driver and we therefore conclude that nutrient input adjustments to the basin were responsible for the two peaks in δ<sup>13</sup>C.</p><p>Our results suggest that the Pikermian chronofauna of the Sivas Basin thrived under relatively stable local hydrological and climatic conditions. In the Sivas Basin, the Pikermian fauna flourished well into the Messinian, as opposed to Greek and Bulgarian sites where faunal turnover was observed under a cooling climate and mid-latitude desertification across the Tortonian-Messinian boundary.</p><p><strong>Key words </strong>magnetostratigraphy, stable isotope geochemistry, mammal stratigraphy, late Miocene, Pikermian, central Anatolia</p><p><strong>References </strong>Böhme et al. (2017). PLoS ONE, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0177347; Böhme et al. (2018). Global and Planetary Change, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2018.07.019 ; Meijers et al. (2018). Earth and Planetary Science Letters, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2018.05.040; Meijers et al. (2020). Geosphere, https://doi.org/10.1130/GES02135.1; Meijers et al. (2022). Newsletters on Stratigraphy, https://doi.org/10.1127/nos/2021/0623</p>

Figure 4. Radial enamel thickness of the lateral crown face at each of the five major cusps measured by microfocal X-ray CT. Right, occlusal view surface rendered image of the M2 (CO-300) with white line indicating position of the mesial cusp section (section running through the protoconid and metaconid dentine cusp tips); left, corresponding grayscale image of the mesial cusp section; white bar indicates 2 mm. Maximum lateral enamel thickness in the little-worn lower M2 mesial cusp section (Suwa and Kono, 2005) was 2.35 mm in the protoconid and 2.08 mm in the metaconid. The three-dimensional radial lateral enamel thickness ranged from 2.26 to 2.31 opposite the buccal M2 main cusps and 1.81 to 2.15 opposite the lingual M2 main cusps. In the right M1 with flattened buccal cusps, the maximum lateral enamel thickness in the mesial cusp section was 1.55+ in the protoconid and 1.73 in the metaconid. The three-dimensional radial lateral enamel thickness ranged from 1.63+ to 2.03+ opposite...

Figure 1. Location of the Çorakyerler locality. (a) Present-day configuration of Anatolia relative to the Eurasia, Arabian plates, and the Black and Mediterranean seas. Major faults are illustrated. NAFZ, Northern Anatolian Fault Zone; EAFZ, Eastern Anatolian Fault Zone; DSFZ, Dead Sea Fault Zone (a northern extension of the East African Rift System. (b) Geological map of the northeastern corner of the ÇankIrI-Çorum basin showing the location of Çorakyerler, north of ÇankIrI. The fossil horizons are included in the Tuglu Formation. (Modified from KaymakçI et al., 2001).

Despite much interest in the ecology and origins of the extensive grassland ecosystems of the modern world, the biogeographic relationships of savannah palaeobiomes of Africa, India and mainland Eurasia have remained unclear. Here we assemble the most recent data from the Neogene mammal fossil record in order to map the biogeographic development of Old World mammalian faunas in relation to palaeoenvironmental conditions. Using genus-level faunal similarity and mean ordinated hypsodonty in combination with palaeoclimate modelling, we show that savannah faunas developed as a spatially and temporally connected entity that we term the Old World savannah palaeobiome. The Old World savannah palaeobiome flourished under the influence of middle and late Miocene global cooling and aridification, which resulted in the spread of open habitats across vast continental areas. This extensive biome fragmented into Eurasian and African branches due to increased aridification in North Africa and Arab...

Although ecometric methods have been used to analyse fossil mammal faunas and environments of Eurasia and North America, such methods have not yet been applied to the rich fossil mammal record of eastern Africa. Here we report results from analysis of a combined dataset spanning east and west Turkana from Kenya between 7 and 1 million years ago (Ma). We provide temporally and spatially resolved estimates of temperature and precipitation and discuss their relationship to patterns of faunal change, and propose a new hypothesis to explain the lack of a temperature trend. We suggest that the regionally arid Turkana Basin may between 4 and 2 Ma have acted as a ‘species factory’, generating ecological adaptations in advance of the global trend. We show a persistent difference between the eastern and western sides of the Turkana Basin and suggest that the wetlands of the shallow eastern side could have provided additional humidity to the terrestrial ecosystems. Pending further research, a ...

The excavations conducted at Van Castle Mound, East Anatolia, between 1987 and 2010 uncovered a total of 328 human skeletons dating back to the Medieval period. Thirty trauma cases were identified within the collection, constituting 9.14% of the entire population. Typology and distribution of the trauma among different sexes indicated that depression fractures, oblique fractures, comminuted fractures, and head deformation were more frequently observed in male skeletons, while a post-fractural infection appeared only in a female skeleton. Trauma cases were more common on post-cranial bones. In addition, a trepanned cranial specimen belonging to a mature individual is identified in which grooving technique was performed. Most of the observed trauma cases were related to heavy labor, unsafe working conditions, and challenges of everyday agrarian life. Previous paleopathological studies from the Medieval Van Castle Mound also indicates an insufficient nutritation and high physical stress.

An adult maxilla and partial mandibles of a hominoid primate recovered from the late Miocene locality of Çorakyerler (central Anatolia) are recognized as a new species of Ouranopithecus, one of the rare western Eurasian hominoids to have survived well into the late Miocene. This species is distinguished from its sister taxon, and likely ancestor Ouranopithecus macedoniensis, by a constellation of dentognathic features. The new species, in which the male postcanine dentition is larger than that of any other Miocene ...

North American Cormohipparion extended its range into the Old World 11.5 Ma. Hipparion first appearances are locally recorded at 11.5 Ma in Central Europe, 10.7 Ma in the Siwalik and Turkey, and 10.5 Ma in North and East Africa. Hippotherium is the earliest definable lineage and evolved very slowly in Central Europe and the eastern Mediterranean. On the contrary, Sinap Turkey records a “punctuated” evolutionary burst at 9.9 Ma. including 4-5 species of undefined, perhaps monospecific lineages. Sivalhippus evolved in the Siwalik Hills beginning at 10.3 Ma, underwent a local evolutionary radiation that included 4 defined species, and extended its range into East Africa in the late Miocene. Other major multispecific lineages include Cremohipparion, ranging from the eastern Mediterranean to China in the late Miocene and early Pliocene, Eurygnathohippus, which underwent a late Miocene-Pleistocene radiation in Africa, and Plesiohipparion and Proboscidipparion, which originated in China in...

Despite much interest in the ecology and origins of the extensive grassland ecosystems of the modern world, the biogeographic relationships of savannah palaeobiomes of Africa, India and mainland Eurasia have remained unclear. Here we assemble the most recent data from the Neogene mammal fossil record in order to map the biogeographic development of Old World mammalian faunas in relation to palaeoenvironmental conditions. Using genus-level faunal similarity and mean ordinated hypsodonty in combination with palaeoclimate modelling, we show that savannah faunas developed as a spatially and temporally connected entity that we term the Old World savannah palaeobiome. The Old World savannah palaeobiome flourished under the influence of middle and late Miocene global cooling and aridification, which resulted in the spread of open habitats across vast continental areas. This extensive biome fragmented into Eurasian and African branches due to increased aridification in North Africa and Arabia during the late Miocene. Its Eurasian branches had mostly disappeared by the end of the Miocene, but the African branch survived and eventually contributed to the development of Plio-Pleistocene African savannah faunas, including their early hominins. The modern African savannah fauna is thus a continuation of the extensive Old World savannah palaeobiome.

Efforts stemming from the Turkish government’s religious agenda to severely censor students’ access to modern evolution theory threatens educational freedom. In Turkish high school classrooms, the coverage of evolution theory is vague, human evolution and origin of vertebrates are ignored entirely, leaving any questions about origins of human and other animals to be answered by creationist ideas taught simultaneously in mandatory religion courses and science class. Paleontology, as an evolutionary science, in higher education lacks a modern integrated approach of anatomy, morphology, ecology, and macroevolution. In geology departments micropaleontology, based on the memorization of (invertebrate) fossil taxa names to tell us about the age of strata, is the only taught. Both biology and geology departments do not offer vertebrate paleontology education. There is a lack of variation among the departments’ course offerings; nearly identical curriculum. The freedom of academics to deter...

The relative weights of physical forcing and biotic interaction as drivers of evolutionary change have been debated in evolutionary theory. The recent finding that species, genera, clades, and chronofaunas all appear to exhibit a symmetrical pattern of waxing and waning lends support to the view that biotic interactions shape the history of life. Yet, there is similarly abundant evidence that these primary units of biological evolution arise and wane in coincidence with major climatic change. We review these patterns and the process-level explanations offered for them. We also propose a tentative synthesis, characterized by interdependence between
physical forcing and biotic interactions. We suggest that species with
evolutionary novelties arise predominantly in “species factories” that
develop under harsh environmental conditions, under dominant physical forcing, whereas exceptionally mild environments give rise to “oases in the desert,” characterized by strong competition and survival of relics.

An adult maxilla and partial mandibles of a hominoid primate recovered from the late Miocene locality of Çorakyerler (central Anatolia) are recognized as a new species of Ouranopithecus, one of the rare western Eurasian hominoids to have survived well into the late Miocene. This species is distinguished from its sister taxon, and likely ancestor Ouranopithecus macedoniensis, by a constellation of dentognathic features. The new species, in which the male postcanine dentition is larger than that of any other Miocene ...

Turkish palaeoanthropologists have sought to overcome such limitations by collaborating with foreign scientists. But this often disadvantages Turkish scholars: although they supply the raw materials, it is the foreign scientists who have the necessary methods, techniques, equipment and language to assess and publish fossil findings. Few palaeoanthropological papers are published by Turkish scientists alone. ... In striving to compete in the international sphere, Turkish palaeoanthropologists should not overlook the need to establish a solid science base at home. By giving priority ...