Ze’ev was born to Miriam Atara and Dr. Yehoshua Heschel Yevin in 1926 in the Jezreel Valley. Ze’ev had a brother Yisrael, who went on to be a lecturer in Hebrew language and literature in Jerusalem’s Hebrew University.

The Yevin family returned from the Jezreel Valley to Tel Aviv, where the father was active in the nationalist movement. He was member of Brit HaBiryonim, the Revisionist Movement and IZL. In 1942, Ze’ev finished Ahad HaAm Elementary School in Tel Aviv. From 1943 to 1948 he worked in the diamond industry.

He attended Haskala High School at night in Tel Aviv, while studying and painting at the Avni Studio.

In 1946, he enlisted in Lehi, posting posters and distributing underground material. At a later stage, he moved on to the recruitment of supporters and from that division to the youth recruitment division.

While the Jewish Resistance Movement was going on, with the three underground organizations cooperating, on 17 February 1948, he participated in an operation to attack the Abu Kabir Mosque in Jaffa, from which Arab snipers would shoot at the streets of Tel Aviv. In this operation, he received a back injury which kept him hospitalized for two years. Once the State was established and all Lehi members enlisted in the IDF, he did the same, though he was injured. He spent much of his time in the army in the hospital, until he was demobilized in 1951.

After his discharge, he studied geography, history and geology in Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He earned his Ph.D. in 1971.

In 1951, he started working in the Antiquities Department, which became the Antiquities Authority, in which he worked until 1991, when he retired. He directed an antiquities station, excavated numerous sites throughout Israel and published many scholarly articles. He also published articles and stories in Sullam, edited by Dr. Israel Eldad.

In 1953, he was arrested for being a member of the Tzrifin Underground, and he was released after two years.

In 1955, he married Ada Spector. They had three children and four grandchildren.

Since 1991, when he retired, he published articles based on his time at the Antiquities Authority. He also researched and lectured about the poetry of Uri Tzvi Greenberg.