In May 2006 a salvage excavation was conducted in Tel Aviv, at the corner of Petah Tiqwa Road and Hasmoneans Street (Permit No. A-4813*; map ref. NIG 180112–18/664239–43; OIG 130112–18/164239–43; Fig. 1), after remains of antiquities were discovered in a preliminary inspection of an area slated for development as a public park. The excavation, on behalf of the Antiquities Authority and with the sponsorship of the Ahuzat Hof Company, was directed by D. Barkan, with the assistance of R. Hayim (area supervision), M. Ajami and P. Volinski (Tel Aviv region), S. Ya‘aqov-Jam and E. Bachar (administration), A. Dagot (GPS), T. Sagiv (photography), Y. Bukengolts (pottery restoration) and M. Shuiskaya (pottery drawing).
The site is situated on the second kurkar ridge of the coastal plain. Caves that were excavated in Ha-Qirya in the 1970s (IEJ 29:241) indicated the existence of an ancient cemetery on the eastern slope of the ridge. Other excavations conducted in 2002, c. 250 m north of the present site, (HA-ESI 117) exposed five burial caves that date to the Early Bronze Age, fifty from the Intermediate Bronze Age and one from the Middle Bronze Age. Finally, a number of EB I tombs were excavated that were hewn in the kurkar bedrock (HA-ESI 118).