The British School of Athens began excavations at Lefkandi in 1964 under the direction of Mervyn Popham and Hugh Sackett. The site was spotted by the two archaeologists after surveying the island of Euboea to find suitable sites for excavation. The first excavations took place on the ancient settlement called Xeropolis, which is just to the east of the village on a peninsula, and revealed that the history of the site started around 2100 BC. Xeropolis became important during the Middle and Late Bronze Age, and particularly during the final stages of the Late Bronze Age, after 1200 BC.

The Late Helladic IIIC period is now published in Lefkandi IV. Equally important was the discovery of Late Geometric structures and houses which reveal among other things evidence for the production of bronze artefacts and a number of early graffiti in the Euboean alphabet.