A salvage excavation was conducted in December 1997 at Khirbat Tinani, on the corner of Ha-‘Ogen and Sederot Ha-Hagana streets in Haifa (Permit No. A-2791*; map ref. NIG 19600-50/74775-85; OIG 24775–85/14600–50), after antiquities were damaged when a sewer line was installed. The excavation, on behalf of the Antiquities Authority and financed by the Shikun ‘Ovdim Co., was directed by A. Massarwa, with the assistance of V. Essman (surveying), R. Graff (drafting), M. Shuiskaya-Arnov (pottery drawing) and D. Barshad (assistance with photography).
An excavation square (4 × 4 m) was opened 200 m northeast of Tel Shiqmona. Three strata of a structure were discovered, probably a courtyard of a residential building, which was used in the Byzantine and Early Islamic periods (Fig. 1).
Stratum III. Two walls (W11, width 0.44 m; W13, width 0.5 m) constructed from dressed limestone were exposed. A floor of dressed stones, some of which were in secondary use, abutted the walls. A circular kurkar stone that was probably a ballista stone was lying on the floor. The finds included a few non-diagnostic glass fragments, a base and three LRW bowl rims (Fig. 2) and a few murex mollusks and shells.
Stratum II. A wall (W10, width 0.65 m) of dressed limestone was uncovered. Abutting the wall on the west was a floor of beaten earth and small stones that overlaid the floor of Stratum III. The finds included seven body fragments of cooking pots and two handles of storage jars, probably from the Byzantine period.
Stratum I. A wall (W12, width 0.35 m) built of fieldstones abutted W10 from Stratum II on the west, which was lined with fieldstones prior to the construction of W12. This stratum is dated to the Early Islamic period (seventh century CE) based on the ceramic finds, which included ten body fragments and four storage jar handles that were retrieved from the fill amongst the stones of the wall.