During May 2006, a salvage excavation was conducted northeast of Har Hermonit (Permit No. A-4767*; map ref. NIG 27530/78910; OIG 22530/28910), following damage caused by mechanical equipment. The excavation, on behalf of the Antiquities Authority and with financial support of the A.Z. Avidan Company, was directed by O. Zingboym, with the participation of Y. Ya‘aqoby (administration).
The site was surveyed in the past (C. Epstein and S. Gutman. In M. Kochavi ed. 1972.
Judaea, Samaria and the Golan Archaeological Survey 1967–1968. Jerusalem. Site 260; M. Hartal. 1989.
Northern Golan Heights Survey:
The Archaeological Survey as a Source of Regional History. Qazrin. Site 2:14, pp. 41–42). A number of buildings were noted on a hilltop and Iturean potsherds dating to the Hellenistic (third–first centuries BCE) and Roman (first–fourth centuries CE) periods were collected. The site is one of a cluster of Iturean settlement sites located in the northern Golan region; not far from the site are four other sites, among them Kh. Zemel (M. Hartal. 2005.
Land of the Ituraeans. Qazrin. Pp. 12–60). Prior to the construction of a waste water treatment facility to the south of the site (2003), soundings that determined its western and southern boundaries were conducted .
One square was excavated along the southeastern fringes of the site (Figs. 1, 2). The remains of two terrace walls were discovered; the first (W3), probably the earlier of the two, was built of small to medium-sized stones and soil fill that contained a few potsherds. Afterward, Terrace Wall 1 (Fig. 3), which was more massive and founded on bedrock along the lower part of the slope, was built. This terrace wall survived to a height of c. 1.2 m.
A few potsherds were collected, among them jars and bowls that dated to the Hellenistic period.
The two terraces were apparently built by Iturean residents of the site during the Hellenistic period. Based on soundings that were conducted west and south of the site and the results of the excavation and comparisons made with other nearby Iturean sites, e.g. Kh. Zemel, we can assume that it was a small, one-period site.