AbstractIn the southern flank of the Menderes Massif, western Turkey, an E–W‐trending quartz–mica vein was recognized in the augen gneisses of the so‐called ‘core’ series. Rb‐Sr determinations of two undeformed or slightly deformed mica books from the vein yielded Palaeocene–Early Eocene ages (c. 62–43 Ma) for the vein formation. The new data are interpreted to closely post‐date the time of major Barrovian‐type High Temperature/Medium Pressure (HT/MP) main Menderes metamorphism (MMM) and coeval crustal‐scale top‐to‐the‐N‐NNE Tertiary deformation that affected the whole Massif. Subsequent cooling occurred in the Middle Eocene (36 ± 2 Ma Ar‐Ar mica ages).Top‐to‐the‐N‐NNE structures were later overprinted by top‐to‐the‐S‐SSW fabrics within normal‐sense ductile shear zone, located between the core augen gneisses in the footwall and the structurally overlying cover schists in the hanging wall. The Massif was at the surface by the Early Miocene. Field relations clearly demonstrate that the age of top‐to‐the‐S‐SSW deformation is well constrained between the age of the MMM and the Early Miocene, and that exhumation was mainly tectonically controlled. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.