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Along the western fringes of the remains of Hittin, two settlement layers were revealed: Stratum II, from the Early Chalcolithic period, and Stratum I, from the beginning of Early Bronze Age IA. Potsherds from the Pottery Neolithic period, EB IB and the Intermediate Bronze Age were found as well. The remains from Stratum II consisted of meager construction; the finds included bowls and holemouth jars with rope decoration, churns, bow-rim jars and flint implements. Stratum I comprised the remains of a wall and an adjacent pavement, accompanied by characteristic Gray Burnished Ware.

A survey and a salvage excavation conducted on the western slope of the village of Peqi‘in exposed three strata of a large settlement (c. 100 dunams): the lower two strata (III–II) dated from the Late Chalcolithic period, and the upper stratum (I), from Early Bronze Age IA. The discovery of a large proto-historic settlement is of considerable importance, as until now, only small settlements from this period were known in Upper Galilee. The discovery of this settlement also contributes to our understanding of the finds at the nearby Chalcolithic burial cave excavated in 1995. The settlement’s large size might explain the abundance of artifacts in that cave.

Some 2 km east of Tel Afeq, an excavation was conducted in three subterranean chambers exposed during construction works. The chambers, which were accessed by vertical shafts, probably served as storerooms for a nearby settlement. The pottery and flint objects, found in fills within the caves, date to Early Bronze Age IB. The surface treatment of the pottery reflects aspects of the northern EB IB culture, while the shapes of the vessels reveal a southern influence. These finds shed light on domestic and storage activities in the fourth millennium BCE.

Excavations at the site, located in the southern coastal plain, were initiated after the exposure of ancient pottery vessels. During excavations, a homogeneous pottery assemblage, including store jars, open and carinated bowls and dipper juglets, was recovered from five areas. It seems that the finds originated in pit graves, which were dug into the kurkar sandstone during Middle Bronze Age II. Similar graves, dating to the same period, are dispersed along the southern coastal ridges.

The site is located in the Jezreel Valley, near the slopes of Giv‘at Ha-More. Four building phases were observed: the latest phase (Stratum I) was attributed to the late Byzantine–Early Islamic periods, while three earlier phases (Strata IIa–c) date to Iron Age II; meager Hellenistic and Iron I sherds were found as well. Strata IIc and IIa were exploited as cooking areas, and Stratum IIb may have been an industrial installation connected with fire (kiln? furnace?). The charcoal samples from Stratum IIb that were analyzed support the conventional Iron IIA chronology.

The site is located on a slope c. 100 m southwest of Khirbat Abu Shawan, near the village of El-Wallaja. The excavation exposed the remains of a farmstead, extending across an area of two to three dunams. Two buildings were unearthed, delimited by an enclosure wall. An installation and a partially-hewn cave were discovered as well. The site was dated to the end of the Iron Age based on the pottery found within the buildings and the installations. One building (200) comprised a large percentage of holemouth jars, and it probably served as a workshop and storeroom for agricultural produce. The other building (300) included mainly tableware, indicating its use as a dwelling. This farmstead is one of a series of farmsteads that operated around Jerusalem during the end of the Iron Age, attesting to the intensive agricultural activity in the periphery of Jerusalem at that time.

The burial cave, hewn in limestone, comprises a central chamber, a rectangular standing pit and three benches. Five individuals were interred in the cave, accompanied by pottery vessels, glass vessels and bronze objects. Based on the pottery finds, the cave was dated to the first–second centuries CE. The double-arcosolia tombs (T1–3) were quarried in bedrock above and north of the cave, forming part of a larger cemetery, which was exposed to the east. Based on the glass vessels from T2, the tombs should probably be dated to the Late Roman–Byzantine periods. The finds within T2 also included 20 decorated bone objects, identified as hairpins, dated to the fourth–beginning of the fifth centuries CE.

The site is located east of Nahariyya, in Western Galilee. The cave was hewn in chalk bedrock (qirton). The entrance to the cave, blocked by a rectangular closing stone, was accessed by a shaft; in the southern wall of the shaft a kokh was discovered. The cave consists of a central chamber with seven burial niches (kokhs) in its walls, four of which were found sealed with a rolling stone and small stones set into place around it. The finds within the cave were located in the central chamber and in the kokhim. They include a clay coffin with a sliding lid; pottery vessels typical of the Roman period; glass vessels, including bowls, plate, cups and bottles; beads; a faience pendant; gold earrings; spindle whorls; coins from the mints at ‘Akko and Tyre, dating to the second century CE; and a scarab, which was probably reused as an amulet. The anthropological finds comprised the bones of several individuals, one of which was a two-year-old, interred in the clay coffin. This cave is part of a larger cemetery that was excavated at the site in the past.

A salvage excavation at Horbat Hazaz in Ashqelon revealed remains dating from the Roman and Byzantine periods. The finds from the Roman period included ten infant burials in jars, dating to the fourth century CE, a refuse level and a few coins; the finds from the Byzantine period included building remains, debris and a refuse pit. The small finds from the Early and Late Roman periods were retrieved from the refuse level and included pottery—bowls and burial jars—and glass vessels with plastic decoration. The small finds from the Byzantine period included pottery—a bowl bearing a Greek inscription, two mold-decorated bowls (with a cross and with a horned animal), kraters, a mortarium, cooking vessels, jars and lamps; glass vessels; and a carved bone handle. A glazed bowl from the Early Islamic period was found in a collapse layer from the Byzantine period. The settlement to which these burials were related was not identified. The remains from the Byzantine period probably belong to a dwelling quarter that existed at the site from the second half of the fourth to the mid-seventh centuries CE.

In a salvage excavation on the main street in Kafr Kama, two cist tombs were uncovered. One of them (Tomb 202) contained a variety of glass vessels, dating from the Late Roman period (the third century CE), as well as bronze rings and a bronze firepan. The remains of two buildings from the Byzantine and Early Islamic periods were exposed. The buildings were dated to between the end of the sixth and the middle of the eighth centuries CE by the pottery recovered from the fills above their floors.

The enclosure of the Temple Mount has the potential to provide answers to key questions concerning the development of rituals in Jerusalem. However, issues of management, control and politics have always had a crucial influence on the possibility of conducting historical and archaeological research at the site. This article attempts to analyze archaeologically the observations made at the site during the construction works conducted during 1999–2001. It includes photographs, plans and sections of the antiquities exposed at the time of those building activities.

Following the removal of soil and stone debris from the Temple Mount compound, an inspection was conducted of its contents and nature. The debris was removed during 1999–2000 and dumped at several locations: Abu Dis; on the western slope of the Kidron Valley, east of Lions’ Gate; south of Kafr Azaiyim, alongside the Jerusalem–Ma‘ale Adummim road; and in a compound in central Jerusalem. The debris yielded ancient architectural elements, potsherds, glazed tiles, glass fragments, stone vessels, metal objects, beads and coins, spanning the time from Iron Age II to the modern era.

During a salvage excavation at Khirbat Deiran, Rehovot, fragmentary remains of an industrial building were uncovered, including an oil press, a kiln and various plastered installations. Two strata were observed (I, II); Persian-wheel (saqiya) vessels and a plastered channel were found in Stratum I, probably pointing to the existence of a Persian-wheel installation on the higher part of the site. Based on the pottery, glass and numismatic finds, the complex was dated to the Early Islamic period, especially the time spanning the eighth and tenth centuries CE. Pottery sherds from the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman periods were also found, indicating the presence of a settlement during those periods.

Excavations at the site, located between the foothills of the Carmel ridge on the east and the central kurkar ridge on the west, revealed three superimposed mills. The earliest mill probably functioned not earlier than the fifth century CE. The Crusader-period mill was constructed above the western hall of the earlier mill, apparently during the twelfth century CE, and went out of use during the thirteenth or fourteenth century CE. The latest mill, which was inserted in the eastern hall of the earliest mill, was dated to the Ottoman period based on several pottery fragments. These mills are part of a larger group of water-powered flour mills that operated in the country from the Byzantine period to the mid-twentieth century CE.