Table of Contents in Hebrew and in English

The Neolithic site of Tel Yosef, located at the foot of the Gilbo‘a Mountains, is an important addition to the densely populated Harod and Bet She’an Valleys during the Pottery Neolithic period. Three strata were excavated and assigned to the PPNC/Early Pottery Neolithic (Stratum III), Early Pottery Neolithic (Stratum II) and Late Pottery Neolithic (Stratum I) periods. In Stratum III, both rectilinear and curvilinear buildings were found, whereas in Stratum II, the buildings were exclusively rectilinear. The architectural remains in Strata III and II are evidence of site organization and village planning. The site was abandoned in the late fifth millennium and was never resettled. 

The excavation at Ḥorbat ‘Ofrat unearthed remains from Iron Age II and the late Persian–early Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Crusader, Mamluk and Ottoman periods. The main findings are from Iron Age II and the Crusader–Mamluk periods. During Iron Age IIA, a small, possibly fortified, town was established on the hilltop, continuing into Iron IIB, with some evidence of a destruction or abandonment, and new buildings were erected in Iron IIC. The Iron IIA–C pottery at the site spans the tenth–seventh centuries BCE. A Mamluk-period building, with an earlier phase in the Crusader period, included pottery, glass vessels and a few coins dating from the fourteenth to the fifteenth century CE. The building might have served to accommodate Christian pilgrims on their way from the port of Acre (Akko) to Nazareth. 

The site was established in the mid-first century CE during the Nabatean rule over the area and was destructed in the second century CE, probably due to an earthquake. After a gap, the site was partially occupied in the post-annexation (second–third centuries CE) and early Byzantine (Phase 3; fourth–mid-fifth centuries CE) periods. Based on architectural considerations, the presence of large rectangular stone basins and numerous Nabataean coroplastic objects, it is suggested that the building served as a roadside temple along the road established by the Nabateans on the eastern side of the ‘Arava Valley. 

The excavation within the precincts of the ancient site of Ben Shemen revealed three ritual baths (miqva‘ot), four cisterns, a quarry and a cave. The finds were mainly retrieved from fills within the installations, including pottery, glass and coins dating from the Hellenistic, Early Roman, Late Roman–Byzantine and Mamluk periods. Of special interest are the finds from the Early Roman period, dating between the Great Jewish Revolt and the Bar Kokhba Revolt (mid-first to the beginning of the second centuries CE). These add important information regarding the landscape of the Ben Shemen area and the larger region of the Lodian Shephelah during the Second Temple period.

The excavation conducted on Yehuda Ha-Yammit Street in Yafo revealed the remains of three strata: graves from the Persian and Hellenistic periods; a Crusader-period moat; and late Ottoman-period wells. The moat, dated to the end of the Crusader period (thirteenth century CE), was hewn in the kurkar rock and lined with retaining walls. The finds retrieved from within the moat fill included potsherds and glass finds dated to the Crusader period. An Ayyubid coin of Al-Naṣir Yusuf II, found in a probe next to the moat’s southern wall, probably attests that the moat was destructed during Baybars’ conquest of Yafo in 1268 CE. This is the first archaeological evidence of the location of the Crusader moat in the south of the city.

A salvage excavation conducted in the Newe Rabin neighborhood of Or Yehuda revealed the remains of the Arab village of Kafr ‘Ana, which was settled between the seventeenth and the mid-twentieth century CE. The main architectural remains belong to buildings that were erected in the Late Ottoman period; considerable accumulations of finds, but no architectural remains, date from the late Chalcolithic period. The finds from the Late Ottoman period include domestic vessels, fragments of Marseilles roof tiles and several fragments of glass bracelets, as well as two unusual finds: a bronze chain with a pendant and an unusual pistol from the early twentieth century.