Prehistoric archaeology in western Anatolia has been poorly pursued since the beginning of excavations in this area in the 19th century. Especially the central coast between Pergamon and Ephesos represents a terra incognita in most prehistoric periods of humankind.The project focuses mainly on two distinctive chronological and cultural horizons the period of the first permanent settlements (sedentism) in Neolithic and the development to proto-urban centres in Early Bronze Age period. Combining both huge research topics in one project would enable a broad spectrum of cultural modelling, based upon multidisciplinary diachronic and comparative studies concerning changing societies in a changing environment from the 7th to 3rd millennium BC.New archaeological excavations as well as environmental surveys in different micro-regions (Pergamon and Ephesos) are the essential methods to produce modern documented data that will be analysed with a broad multidisciplinary and international team of scientists and students. Besides archaeology, those disciplines are geophysics, paleogeography, metallurgy, inorganic chemistry, petrography/mineralogy, geology, zoology, botany, anthracology, organic chemistry, physics and anthropology.To achieve an integrated picture and to concentrate the broad spectrum of studies a focus on the following three research topics is proposed: 1. Archaeological Periods and Definitions of Cultures 2. Societies in Changing Environments 3. Communication, Exchange and Interregional Relationships. The applicant has already performed investigations in these highly promising regions and could thereby successfully demonstrate a great gain in knowledge of basic cultural developments of humankind in prehistory.