This article presents the results of two excavations conducted at Khirbat Abu Hamid, with special focus on the EB IB unfortified settlement at the end of the fourth millennium BCE. A rather large village was exposed, comprising four strata dating to EB IB. The architectural remains include rounded and rectangular structures. The pottery finds are evidence of a transitional EB IB–EB II horizon. After the settlement was abandoned, its inhabitants may have established the fortified town at nearby Tel Bareqet. The microcosm of the Lod Valley in the third millennium BCE reveals a considerable shift from a rural and open settlement toward a full-fledged urban landscape, in which at least three fortified towns existed.