diff --git a/changes.xml b/changes.xml
index c8b0128..6e59eb7 100644
--- a/changes.xml
+++ b/changes.xml
@@ -37,6 +37,8 @@
       <title>Apache Compress Ant Library</title>
     </properties>
 
+    <release version="1.6" date="unreleased">
+    </release>
     <release version="1.5" date="2017-06-11">
       <action type="update" breaks-bwc="true">
         The coordinates inside the Ivy file have been changed to match
diff --git a/version.properties b/version.properties
index 6f700c8..463fd48 100644
--- a/version.properties
+++ b/version.properties
@@ -12,4 +12,4 @@
 #  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 #  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 #  limitations under the License.
-artifact.version=1.5
+artifact.version=1.6alpha