During April 2010, a survey was conducted on the hill called Giv‘at Oranim, which is located east of the Tarshiha–Kefar Veradim road (License No. S-180/2010; map ref. 22574–610/76708–29), prior to the construction of a new neighborhood. The survey, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and underwritten by the Ministry of Construction and Housing, was directed by Y. Lerer, with the assistance of N. Getzov (surveyor) and A. Shapiro (surveyor and GPS).
Giv‘at Oranim (Trigonometric Point 778) rises to an elevation of 600 m above sea level. Pottery vessels ascribed to the Intermediate Bronze Age were found on the hill in a survey of Upper Galilean sites (IAA Reports 14, p. 26, Site 169). The center of the hill is located c. 500 m northeast of Khirbat el-Dabsha, where wall remains and fragments of pottery vessels were found, dating to Middle Bronze II, Late Bronze, Iron II, and the Persian and Ottoman periods (IAA Reports 14, p. 25, Site 168).
Sixteen antiquities sites (1–16; Fig. 1) were identified around the hill in the current survey. In addition, remains of numerous farming terraces, probably from to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, were discerned.
1 (map ref. 225882–909/767269–93; Fig. 2). A square compound (770 sq m) with remains of walls built of different size fieldstones. Walls of dressed stones that appear to have been founded in the nineteenth-twentieth centuries are found in the center of the structure. Fragments of pottery vessels dating to the Intermediate Bronze Age (?) and Rashaya el-Fukhar ware from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries CE were discerned throughout the structure.
2 (map ref. 225914–26/767459–71). A rock-hewn cistern surrounded by an enclosure (140 sq m) that is raised above its surroundings.
3 (map ref. 225828/767522). A rock-hewn cistern.
4 (map ref. 225781/767727). A rock-hewn cistern.
5 (map ref. 225782–816/767733–60; Fig. 3). A vaulted structure surrounded by a stone wall (812 sq m). The construction style the building suggests it can be dated to the nineteenth–twentieth centuries CE.
6 (map ref. 225873/767697). A natural cave.
7 (map ref. 225942/767675). A cistern.
8 (map ref. 226118/767422). A natural cave.
9 (map ref. 226127/767417). A natural cave.
10–12 (map ref. 226057–123/767263–335). A bedrock surface (4,330 sq m) on which various signs of possible rock-cuttings are visible.
13 (map ref. 226065/767366). A natural cave.
14 (map ref. 226240/767376). A square rock-cutting.
15 (map ref. 225999/767279). A small stone heap and a potsherd scattering.
16 (map ref. 225954–71/767203–37; Fig. 4). A square stone heap (680 sq m) bisected by a wall. Non-diagnostic fragments of ancient pottery vessels were gathered.
Based on the ancient potsherds discovered in the two square compounds (Sites 1 and 16), it is highly probable that they are connected to nearby Khirbat el-Dabsha, but their real meaning can only be ascertained in an archaeological excavation. The nature of the rock-cuttings and the caves discovered around the hill can also be established only proper excavations. The cisterns and the vaulted building (Site 5) are most likely from the nineteenth–twentieth centuries CE.