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Since the 1990s, excavations at Shoham, located at the eastern edge of the Lod Valley, yielded several karstic caves used for burial and dwelling during the Late Chalcolithic period and the Early Bronze Age. One such cave is described in this article. The finds included, inter alia, sherds of rectangular or domiform ceramic ossuaries, V-shaped bowls and some fenestrated pedestal bowls, dating to the Late Chalcolithic period, as well as pottery types typical of Late EB I. The cave is part of a large system of cemeteries comprising karstic caves, which served the population living in nearby settlements on the foothills of the Samaria anticline.

Salvage excavations at Tel Kabri, located in the western Upper Galilee, revealed part of a Middle Bronze Age II fortification system and architectural remains from the Early Bronze Age and MB II. The pottery finds date to the Early Chalcolithic period, Early Bronze Age I, Middle Bronze Age II and Iron Age II.

A small salvage excavation was undertaken on the summit of the hill of Gush Halav in the Upper Galilee. Meager architectural remains were uncovered, probably originating in the Late Roman–Byzantine periods, with later additions in the eleventh century CE. By the thirteenth century CE the architectural complex went out of use, as evidenced by the pottery finds. The pottery dates to Iron Age II, the Persian–Hellenistic, Late Roman–Byzantine, Fatimid and Crusader/Ayyubid periods. 

The site is located on the sand dunes north of Nahal Hadera, two kilometers northeast of Caesarea. Excavations revealed building remains from the Hellenistic period, consisting of limestone foundations with a mud-brick superstructure. Hundreds of potsherds from this period were found, representing a large variety of domestic vessels, as well as metal objects, a hoard of coins and faunal remains. After the Hellenistic settlement was abandoned, a limekiln of the Roman period was constructed in the area. The pottery from the kiln dated to the fourth century CE. A severely damaged winepress, dating to the Byzantine period, was uncovered close to surface level. It seems that the residents of this isolated settlement were engaged in some form of agricultural activity and animal husbandry.

Underwater rescue surveys, carried out in the southern anchorage at Dor, revealed a Byzantine-period assemblage, which was probably part of a ship’s cargo. The numismatic finds include 28 bronze coins and a silver coin, as well as a hoard of 53 bronze coins. The coins represent almost all the Byzantine rulers that ruled the Empire, from Anastasius I to Constans II, including seventh-century Arab imitations. The mints represented are of the expected variety, e.g., Constantinopole, Antioch and Nicomedia. The coins may be divided into two parcels, one containing the early coins and the other, the later ones. One of the parcels seems to be of local origin, while the other seems to have come from Cyprus.

Salvage excavations at Tel ‘Afar, about six kilometers south of Caesarea, unearthed remains dating to the Byzantine period. A massive building was exposed, with square towers at its corners, buttresses on each side and two vaulted openings. The finds from the building and around it clearly date to the Byzantine period, but provide no clue to its use or function. Numerous roof tiles, marble fragments and many tessarae were found in all the excavated areas – they might belong to the building revealed during Porath’s excavations at the site, which he identified as a villa belonging to a wealthy citizen of Caesarea; however, it might have been a monastery. 

Sixteen tombs were excavated in the northern part of the city of Migdal Ha-‘Emeq in the Galilee. These rock-hewn tombs belong to a large cemetery, which was used during the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Early Islamic periods; a secondary use of the tombs was made during the Mamluk and Ottoman periods. Tow tomb groups were documented: the early tombs comprised loculi (kokhim) and were sealed by a roll stone; the later tombs comprised arcosolia with burial troughs and their opening was frequently sealed by a roll stone. The finds within the tombs—a limestone ossuary, an oil lamp decorated with a menorah and lamps with a broken discus—suggest that the cemetery belonged to a Jewish settlement during the Roman and Byzantine periods. 

Salvage excavations in the northern industrial zone of Or ‘Aqiva unearthed a complex belonging to the agricultural hinterland of Caesarea during the late Byzantine–Early Islamic periods. The complex included a building, a well, a water channel, a large round plaza and walls that delimited paths in the cultivated area. The finds included pottery, glass vessels and coins, mainly dating to the late Byzantine–Early Islamic periods. The architectural finds and the impressive size of the round plaza imply that the complex was built under state initiative. The irrigation system exposed here is the fist evidence of agricultural activity in a region of sand dunes that underwent betternment, resembling that of the muwassi in Gaza. 

At Fardisya, in western Samaria, two concentrations of rock-hewn installations were recovered, including winepresses, tombs, quarries, a limekiln, game boards and cupmarks. The finds in Winepress 1 and in double-arcosolia Tomb 7 date to the Late Roman–Byzantine periods.

In a trial excavation at Kefar Sava two strata were exposed, including part of a kiln, probably the firing chamber of a pottery kiln dating to the eighth–eleventh centuries CE, and 24 pit graves from the Late Islamic period. All the graves were used for single, primary burials. Two burial groups were identified: one group of tombs was oriented east–west, while another group was oriented northeast–southwest. The deviation of the tombs’ axes was probably the result of an attempt to match the position of the sunrise during the various seasons. Burial gifts included glass vessels, pieces of cloth and coins.