During September–October 1998 fourteen tombs were excavated at Yaziz, c. 500 m west of Tel Malot (Permit Nos. A-2928; A-2946; map ref. NIG 18718–50/64028–108; OIG 13718–50/14028–108), after antiquities were damaged while a pipe was installed along the route of widening the railroad track. The excavation, on behalf of the Antiquities Authority, was directed by S. Golan, with the assistance of M. Ajami (area supervision), D. Porotzki (surveying), T. Sagiv and S. Mendrea (photography), V. Eshed (physical anthropology), M. Shuiskaya-Arnov (pottery drawing), M. Smilanski (drawing of flint implements), H. Khalaily (lithic finds), E. Yannai (pottery reading), and O. Shmueli (information about previous excavations).
Fourteen tombs from several periods were discovered. One tomb dated from Middle Bronze Age I, one from Middle Bronze Age IIA, two from Middle Bronze Age IIB, nine from the Late Bronze Age, containing imported Cypriot vessels and one tomb from Iron Age II. All the tombs were oval or rectangular pit graves, dug in hamra and sand. Some were lined with mud bricks and most contained a single interment and a few funerary offerings that included pottery vessels (up to fifteen vessels per tomb), metal artifacts, flint implements, scarabs and beads. The work undertaken to widen the railway route inflicted considerable damage to the finds and in some of the tombs only scant remains survived, consisting of potsherds or sections of mud-brick walls. In other instances the finds were discovered alongside the tomb after they had been removed by the mechanical equipment that disrupted it. Five of the tombs were preserved in their entirety and included a single interment and funerary offerings, in situ (Fig. 1).