A Vaulted Figurine from İnönü Cave: A New Link between the Balkans and Northwestern Türkiye

Bone figurines depicted with vaulted heads are the common types since the middle of the fifth millennium BC in the Eastern and partly Central Balkans, primarily in the Varna Cemetery. Excavations carried out in Anatolia and Turkish Thrace have not yet encountered these figurines that are typical of Balkan prehistory. At level V of İnönü Cave on the Black Sea coast in northwest Türkiye, archaeologists unearthed a figurine during the 2022 excavation season. The protruding bone formed the head of the figurine. The aforesaid figurine, similar to the samples unearthed in the Balkans, represents the first example unearthed in Anatolia to date. In the present study, we will discuss the technological and typological characteristics, production method, function, and the representation and context of this bone figurine. This figurine establishes a new connection between Anatolian and Balkan cultures.