Ancient CyprusAncient Cyprus

Excavator · Expedition member · Scholar

Yechiel M. Lehavy

fl. 1971–1989

Excavator of the Neolithic settlement at Dhali-Agridhi for the American Expedition to Idalion between 1972 and 1976; his reports gave two radiocarbon dates for the site.

Biography

Yechiel M. Lehavy dug the Neolithic settlement of Dhali-Agridhi, near Idalion, for the American Expedition to Idalion. He supervised the seven-week sounding of 1972, financed by a Milton Fund grant from Harvard to the expedition's director, G. E. Wright1. Dikaios had plotted the site in the 1930s from fragments of stone bowls and flints; N. P. Stanley Price, surveying Neolithic sites in 1972, rediscovered its general location and told the expedition1.

A 5 by 5 m trench, Area 1, produced two radiocarbon dates: 5340 ± 465 BC for the aceramic level, contemporary with Khirokitia, and 4465 ± 310 BC for the ceramic level. Lehavy described the ceramic phase as the earliest Neolithic pottery then known in Cyprus, comparable with the dark-faced burnished ware of Philia-Drakos A2. In 1974, as field supervisor, he opened Areas 1A and 2, but the military and political situation cut the season to two weeks. Work resumed in 1976 with Areas 11 and 12, trenches 21 and 31, and a probe at "Site E"2.

Lehavy published the first results in 19743 and the full account, "Dhali-Agridhi: The Neolithic by the River", in the expedition's 1989 volume4. The animal bones were reported by Jeffrey H. Schwartz in 1974 and by P. Carter in 19891,2.

Life and work

  1. 1972
    Directed, as senior supervisor, a seven-week trial season at the Neolithic site Dhali-Agridhi (a 5 x 5 m Area 1) for the Idalion expedition, funded by a Milton Fund (Harvard) research grant to the director G. E. Wright. It yielded two C14 dates (aceramic 5340 +/-465 BC, ceramic 4465 +/-310 BC) and the earliest Neolithic pottery then known in Cyprus, in his reading.

    DhaliStager et al. 1974Stager & Walker 1989

  2. 1972
    Chose the site after N. P. Stanley Price (Oxford), surveying Neolithic sites in 1972, rediscovered the general location of Dikaios's 1930s Dhali-Agridhi findspot and told the Idalion expedition; Dikaios's own spot was on Waqf land and could not be excavated, so Lehavy dug on the south bank of the Yalias River near it.

    DhaliStager et al. 1974

  3. 1972
    Jeffrey Schwartz, the expedition zoologist, identified the faunal remains in the field; Lehavy's 1974 report carries Schwartz's faunal list as part 2.

    DhaliStager et al. 1974

  4. 1974
    Published 'Excavations at Neolithic Dhali-Agridhi: Excavation Report' in the American Expedition to Idalion First Preliminary Report (ed. Stager, Walker and Wright), pp. 95-102.

    Stager et al. 1974Todd 1978

  5. 1974
    Field supervisor at Dhali-Agridhi, opening Areas 1A and 2 to test whether aceramic and ceramic deposits were stratigraphically sequenced; the season was cut to about two weeks and halted early by the military and political situation in Cyprus.

    DhaliStager & Walker 1989

  6. 1976
    Resumed excavation at Dhali-Agridhi, opening Areas 11 and 12, test trenches 21 and 31 and probing a second location 200 m south-west ('Site E') with a soil auger.

    DhaliStager & Walker 1989

  7. 1989
    Published 'Dhali-Agridhi: The Neolithic by the River' (Excavations at Dhali-Agridhi: 1972, 1974, 1976) in the AEI 1973-1980 volume (pp. 203-?), with a fauna report by P. Carter.

    Stager & Walker 1989

Connections

6 people
George Ernest WrightLawrence E. StagerPorphyrios DikaiosN. P. Stanley PriceJeffrey H. SchwartzO. Elmo ScogginYechiel M. Lehavy
FieldworkScholarshipColleagues

Fieldwork & employment

Scholarship

Colleagues & contacts

Sources

  1. 1.L. E. Stager (ed.), A. Walker (ed.), G. E. Wright (ed.) (1974). American Expedition to Idalion, Cyprus: First Preliminary Report, Seasons of 1971 and 1972. American Schools of Oriental Research.
  2. 2.Lawrence E. Stager (ed.), Anne M. Walker (ed.) (1989). American Expedition to Idalion, Cyprus, 1973-1980. Chicago, Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.
  3. 3.Y. M. Lehavy (1974). “Excavations at Neolithic Dhali-Agridhi: Excavation Report”. American Expedition to Idalion, Cyprus, First Preliminary Report, 95-102.
  4. 4.Y. M. Lehavy (1989). “Excavations at Dhali-Agridhi: 1972, 1974, 1976. Dhali-Agridhi: The Neolithic by the River”. American Expedition to Idalion, Cyprus 1973-1980, 203-.
  5. 5.Ian A. Todd (1978). “Vasilikos Valley Project: Second Preliminary Report, 1977”. Journal of Field Archaeology 5, 161-195. Online