Ancient Halai is located on the North Euboean Gulf at Aghios Ioannis Theologos, on the eastern side of the bay of Atalanti. The first settlement was established in the Neolithic period (6.000 - 5.000). Halai of Classical times was founded about 600 B.C and may have belonged to a league of East Lokrian towns centered on metropolis of Opus. Halai is being excavated by American archaeologists. Two pioneer scholars, Hetty Goldman and Alice Lesle Walker Kosmopoulos, were active in the area from 1911 until 1935. New excavations were conducted by the University in Ithaca N.Y and directed by Professor John E. Coleman in the summers of 1990 - 1992.