The following preliminary report is the result of a palaeoecological investigation w ich was carried out in south cent al Anatolia in the summer f 1968. It deals mainly with the geomorphological aspects of our work, but it will be obvious that there are profound implications for the studies of palaeoclimatology and human ecology at the end of the Pleistocene and the beginning of the Holocene. In addition to Professor Erol, of Ankara University, and myself, the team included Dr. John Franks, of the University of Manchester, who will issue a report on the botanical aspects of the work, following an analysis of pollen samples and the receipt of reports on samples sent for radiocarbon dating. Professor R. Crossland, of Sheffield University, was responsible for the photography and, when the team was not accompanied by Professor Erol, Professor Crossland's knowledge of the Turkish language proved invaluable. The general concept that lay behind the investigation was realized independently by Professor Erol and myself. Working along different lines, and in somewhat different areas, he in the field of geomorphology, and I in the broader field of ecology, we had arrived independently at the tentative conclusion that the final general recession of the Pleistocene lakes, which had once occupied the inland basins in the region, had begun shortly before the end of the Pleistocene, reaching the final phase of retreat, except for limited transgressions, in the very early Holocene. In 1968, we joined forces in order to check and refine this theory. I had decided in 1967 that such an investigation should include both the KonyaEregli and Burdur basins, though there is no physical feature connecting them (Fig. 1). The Konya-Eregii basin, which stretches about 200 km from E to W, is not less than 185 km from the much smaller Burdur basin. The former is generally close to the limits of dry farming, and irrigation is often re? quired ; the rainfall in the Burdur basin, on the other hand, is two to three times as great. However, lying between the two basins is Lake Bey?ehir, the source of the Qar?amba river, which in Pleistocene times was one of four major rivers flowing into the Konya basin. Since Lakes Fig. 1. Location map: the Konya pluvial lake is dotted Bey?ehir and Burdur lay