We have used the particle-gamma coincidence method, Coulomb excitation with 12 MeV a particles and 48 MeV "0 ion beams, and a thick enriched target to experimentally determine the intrinsic nuclear shapes of the even-even erbium isotopes '"Er and '"Er. The evaluation was carried out using a computer code based on the semiclassical Winther-de Boer code. The intrinsic nuclear shapes of '"Er and '"Er are found to be prolate, which disagrees with a recent microscopic calculation using the Reid soft-core nucleon-nucleon potential.NUCLEAR REACTIONS ' '6 Er(o, cv', y), E=12 MeV, '6 ' 4Er(' 0 '60', y) E =48 MeV; measured particle-y coincidence (7; deduced intrinsic ground state shapes. Enriched metal target. Ge(Li) detector. Coupled channel semiclassical analysis.