The site at Elrom junction is situated c. 200 m south of Qibbuz Elrom, on a small basalt hill, to the west of Road 98. Local residents from the nearby village of Buq‘ata call the site Khirbat el Khazal, after the name of the deserted Arab village ‘Ein el Khazal that was located near the site.

A single rectangular area (4.00 × 6.25 m; Fig. 1) was opened in the excavation and three levels were distinguished: Level 1 was surface soil with Ottoman building remains; Level 2 was dated to the Mamluk period and Level 3 was above bedrock and contained Middle Bronze II pottery.

 

Level 1 (Fig. 2). At the western side of the area, a wall (W10) was discovered. The wall (length 4.5 m, width 1.15 m), oriented north–south, was built of undressed basalt fieldstones and preserved two courses high (1 m). Wall 10 was part of a building, visible on surface and partly covered with modern architectural remains. It was not completely excavated as it extended beyond the excavation area.

The pottery recovered from the wall and its proximity indicates that W10 was probably constructed during the Ottoman period (sixteenth–seventeenth centuries CE) and was in use until the village was abandoned in 1967. The pottery included a large number of Rashaya el-Fukhar potsherds of the later Ottoman period, including a bowl (Fig. 3:1) and a jug’s neck (Fig. 3:2), originating from South Lebanon (Fig. 3:1, 2).

 

Level 2. A layer of dark brown soil below the foundation of W10 (L102); it included two walls (W11, W12; Fig. 4) and a large amount of potsherds. Wall 11(length 1.4 m, width 0.7 m), oriented northwest-southeast, was badly preserved to a single course high (0.22 m). It was part of the Mamluk level and most likely served as part of a terrace wall. Wall 12,constructed from partly dressed, medium-sized fieldstones, was preserved two courses high (0.3 m). It was oriented north–south and basically divided the excavation area into two parts. It seems that Wall 12 was part of a retaining or terrace wall. No floor levels abutted the walls and the potsherds retrieved from their vicinity were dated to the Mamluk period (thirteenth–fourteenth centuries CE), including bowls (Fig. 3:3, 4), a cooking pot (Fig. 3:5) and a jar (Fig. 3:6), as well as fragments of two handmade vessels of light brown-orange clay with numerous grits (Fig. 3:7, 8). These vessels have protruding ledges with dented rope decoration. Although dating to the Mamluk period, they are virtually unknown in other Mamluk assemblages.   

Close to W11 and within the stone collapse, an iron arrowhead was discovered (Fig. 5). It could imply the reason for the abandonment of the site.  

Below L102 was a sterile basalt layer on bedrock (L103).

 

Level 3. A dark and very compact soil layer (L104) was exposed below Walls 11 and 12, lying directly above bedrock. This layer (thickness c. 0.2 m) yielded no architectural remains, but contained a large quantity of MB II potsherds that consisted mostly of jar rims (Fig. 6:1, 2) and a cooking pot fragment with a rope decoration (Fig 6:3).

The excavation at the Elrom junction shows that the currently excavated area is situated on the fringes of a small tell that was occupied during the Mamluk and Ottoman periods. The site was apparently larger during these periods than it was during the MB Age, although the potsherd layer from MB II is a novelty in the modern research of the northern Golan Heights.