Excavations in the French Hospital compound uncovered built tombs and burial caves, architectural remains, built installations and rock cuttings from the Persian, Late Roman, Byzantine, Abbasid and Crusader periods. The Persian-period burial caves were hewn in the kurkar bedrock, with vertical shaft entrances. Intact pottery vessels comprised mainly juglets and oil lamps dating from the mid-fifth to the mid-fourth century BCE. Burial in the Persian period was apparently familial, and the burial practices resemble those observed in the Phoenician burials located along the Israeli coast. Remains dating from the Late Roman period consist of a rock-cut tomb, an installation and a rock cutting. From the Byzantine period, a burial cave hewn in the kurkar rock and a section of a mosaic paving containing a Greek inscription were unearthed, as well as a few installations and rock cuttings. The large quantity of oil lamps found in the burial cave, a cross engraved on the stone that blocked the cave entrance, and possibly also the mosaic pavement, attest to the presence of a Christian population at the site during this period. A stone building, installations and a cesspit were discovered from the Abbasid period, and a pit grave and a burial cave were attributed to the Crusader period.