Olena Tsvek

Olena Vasylivna Tsvek (Ukrainian: Олена Василівна Цвек, 3 August 1931 – 5 July 2020)^[1][2] was a Ukrainian archaeologist specialising in the Neolithic Trypillia culture.^[1]

Education and career

Tsvek was born in Kyiv on 3 August 1931.^[1] She studied history and archaeology at Kyiv University, under L.M. Slavin and S.M. Bibikov, graduating in 1959.^[3][4] She was a researcher at the NASU Institute of Archaeology from 1959 until her retirement in 2002.^[3] Tsvek was awarded the Vikentiy Khvoyka Prize in 2005.^[1] She died on 5 July 2020, aged 88.^[where?][2]

Trypillia research

Tsvek's research was focused on the Neolithic Trypillia culture, particularly in the region of the Southern Bug and Dnieper.^[3] She was the first to demonstrate that this region had its own distinct character – sometimes known as the "East Trypillia culture".^[1][3] Her candidate dissertation, defended in 1987, was on the Trypillia culture of the Bug–Dnieper interfluve.^[3]

From the late 1960s, Tsvek directed a number of large-scale excavations at eastern Trypillia sites, including Shkarivka (1969–73), Garbusyn, Bachkuryne (1971–73), Zarubyntsi, Kharkivka (1974–75), Lisovi Hrynivtsi [uk] (1974–76), Veselyi Kut (1975–85, 1993), Tarashcha (1982), Vilkhovets II (1984), Onopriivka (1984–85, 1993), Korobchyne, Rybyany Most (1988–89), and Berezivka (1989–2004).^[1][3] She also discovered the sites of Hreblya, Shkarivka, Tarashcha and Khrystynivka.^[3]