Before the current excavations began, preliminary activities were carried out for several years, including the establishment of a surface survey area of about 185 sq. km. centering on Halai, intensive surface survey in and around Halai and the preparation of a new plan of the acropolis of Halai at 1:50 scale.
These preliminary activities, as well as the actual excavations at Halai, are part of an interdisciplinary project of survey and excavation in East Lokris (the Cornell Halai and East Lokris Project) directed by J.E. Coleman. The excavations themselves have been supported in part by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Townsend Fund of the Department of Classics, Cornell University, and the Institute for Aegean Prehistory as well as by private donations.
Last modified 2.5.98 |
The surface survey of 1988-89 suggests that an additional outer ring of
fortifications was built around the town of Halai in the fourth century B.C., or in Hellenistic
times. The line of blocks extending SE-NW along the present beach to the northwest of the
acropolis is more plausibly identified as part of this outer fortification wall than as the remains of
ship-sheds, as has often been proposed.
