During November 2005 a salvage excavation was conducted along the southwestern slope of Tell el-Ful (Giv‘at Sha’ul; Permit No. A-4634*; map ref. NIG 22185/63663; OIG 17185/13663), prior to digging the foundations for a private house. The excavation, on behalf of the Antiquities Authority, was directed by R. Avner, with the assistance of T. Kornfeld (surveying), T. Sagiv (photography) and E. Belashov (drafting).
Several salvage excavations were carried out at Tell el-Ful in recent years (Fig. 1;
HA-ESI 110:58*; 111:62*;
HA-ESI 119). It became clear from the excavations along the southern slope of the hill that this area lay outside the limits of the settlement on the tell in the Roman and Byzantine periods and was mainly used for burial and industrial activity. Yet, an excavation on the tell’s northern slope (
HA-ESI 120), proved that the settlement may have extended across the northern slope of the tell during the Second Temple period.
Two half squares, adjacent to each other (northern square––3 × 5 m, southern square––2 × 5 m; Fig. 2), were opened in the current excavation. A light color fill (average depth 2 m), which overlaid bedrock and contained mixed pottery fragments dating to Iron II and the Second Temple period, was excavated. The natural hollows in bedrock (Loci 3 and 4) contained sterile dark brown soil that was devoid of any finds. The light color fill may be alluvium that had washed down from the top of the tell.