A regional survey is being conducted by Dr Douglas Baird from Liverpool University. This has led to the discovery of a number of early sites and a full understanding of the long term development of occupation in the region is being achieved. This work is carried out in conjunction with the work of Dr Neil Roberts on the palaeoenvironment. The work also led to the identification of Epi-palaeolithic occupation at the site of Pinarbasi. Due to the threat of looting of later burials at this site, a rescue excavation started in 1994 directed by Trevor Watkins and Cengiz Topal on behalf of the Karaman Museum. The site is at the tip of one of the limestone outliers of the Kara Dag massif and is ideally suited for sedentary or semi-sedentary hunter-gatherers in the early Holocene. Trial excavation took place in one of the rock shelters which make up the site and on a peninsula that projects into the adjacent lake. Evidence of Early Bronze Age, Neolithic and Epi-palaeolithic occupation was found suggesting that large scale excavation will not only provide parallels contemporary with Çatalhöyük, but will also allow understanding of the development of sedentary life and the formation of communities prior to Çatalhöyük. Samples were taken for accelerator dating.

---