C. I.irtun (u1.1, Hou' di.tl ltmting reach l.)urex,? IIYT-49 2 (200i) 7r-84 Neolithic settlement at Ulucak Hoyuk and its cultural relations with neighbor regions in Western Anatolia , by Eqref ABAY Questioning the emergence and spread of the neolithic lifestyle in Europe has caused a lot of discussion. Diffusion, autochthonous cultural development and cultural interaction rep resent the possible explanative models for the neolithic adaptation (Ozdof'an 1997, 1-2). Although it is not clear which phenomenon gave rise to the spre-ad of the Neolithic to Europe, it is now evident that Western Anatolia played an important role in this process. Western Anatolia, with the appropriate environmental conditions for the adaptation of the neolithic life is geographically a transition zone between the Mainland and Aegean Islands and Anatolia. Howevel the Neolithic Period, particularly the Aceramic Neolithic, character- izes archaeologically a less known time span in Western Anatolia. Accordingly, we still do not properly understand the Neolithization Process in Western Anatolia whether it was a result of migration or a transformation from local Mesolithic cultures to Neolithic ones. Indeed, we know relatively more about the Pottery Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic in Western Anatolia. In these periods, particularly in Early Chalcolithic, rhree different culrure regions are distinguished in Western Anatolia characterized by three different principal pot- tery complexes. Southwestern Anatolia or the Lake District wirh the red slipped ware and painted pottery tradition, Northwest Anatolia or Marmara region with the incised and impressed Pottery, and Western Anatolia orAegean region with the undecorated red-slipped wares (Lichter 2002, 166). The Neolithic sequence and the transition from Neolithic to Chalcolithic periods have been relatively well understood both in the Lake District and in Northwesrern Anatolia by the help of the systematic excavations carried out in these two regions although their regional chro- nologies are still debated (6zdo$an 1999, 20&224; Roodenberg 1999, 19T202; Duru 1999, 165-191; 2002,40U19; Schoop 2002,421436). However, in the Aegean region these periods were only known by surveys (French 1969, 4l-98; Meriq 1989, 38t392; 1990, 361-366) until the excavations at Ulucak. Therefore, the regional chronology for Neolithic and Chalcolithic