The Yattir Forest, which is located on the desert margins, consists today mainly of pine trees planted by the JNF. In a survey conducted in the area in 1977, a few prehistoric sites were documented; they were either badly eroded or covered with colluvium (HA 1978). In the Yattir Survey (136), conducted in the early 1980s, 250 sites were documented in the Yattir Forest (Baumgarten and Silberklang 2015). However, most of the forest was not surveyed, perhaps due to the thick vegetation. A survey in the area in 2006–2007 revealed again only a few prehistoric and protohistoric sites (Aladjem 2013). Numerous excavations were carried out in the area, especially on the outskirts of the forest, mostly of sites from the Iron Age, the Byzantine period and later periods.
The spur on which the excavation took place consists of a rocky outcrop overlaid by an accumulation of colluvium (max. thickness 1 m). Three excavation squares were opened (A1–A3; Fig. 2) in a forest clearing at the top of the spur outside the boundaries of the Yattir Visitor Center, east of the Forester’s House. They revealed mainly flint industry debris from the Chalcolithic and the Early Bronze Age, as well as a field wall (W102), a collecting vat of a winepress (L105; not shown on plan) and a cistern (L106).
 
Field Wall (W102). The wall was built of medium-sized stones (average size 0.15–0.20 m; Fig. 3) and was preserved to a height of one course.
 
Collecting Vat (L105; 1.0 × 1.4 m, depth 1 m; Figs. 4, 5). The vat was rock-hewn and featured a round sump in its floor (L110; diam. 0.3 m), in which no signs of plaster were found. No winepress treading surface was identified; it may be situated outside the boundaries of the excavation. South of the collecting vat was a rock-cut channel (L109; length 7 m) that continued to the northeast. The middle part of the channel was partially destroyed, perhaps by construction of the fence around the Forester’s House.
 
Cistern (L106). The cistern was rock-hewn; its opening was covered with a flat, rounded capstone (diam. 1 m) bearing rope marks. Six small depressions (diam. c. 0.1 m; Fig. 6) of unknown purpose were hewn on the inner face of the capstone.
 
Pottery. The excavation revealed nine pottery fragments, two of which are body fragments with coarse inclusions, dated to the Chalcolithic period. The rest were dated to later periods. These include the neck of a flask from the Byzantine period (Fig. 7:1) and a bowl decorated with red bands, apparently dating from the Mamluk period (Fig. 7:2).
 
Flint finds. The excavation unearthed numerous flint artifacts, which were produced near the site. They are dated to the Chalcolithic and the Bronze Age, and apparently show the existence in the vicinity of a settlement from these periods. Naturally occurring flint on the outcrops on the spur attracted people to settle at the site and exploit this available resource. Neither the settlement nor the knapping site were identified.
The flint items scattered randomly in the excavation area at the top of the spur were fully retrieved, and in addition, tools and cores were collected non-methodically among the pine trees on the southern slope of the spur, an area that had been cultivated over the years.
The flint assemblage from the excavation (Areas A1–A3) included 781 flaked items (Table 1); almost 50% of the assemblage consists of flakes. Also retrieved were 53 cores (Table 2; Figs. 8:1–3), of which 77.4% were intended to produce flakes.
 
Table 1. The flint assemblage
Type
N
Flakes
383
Blades
32
Bladelets
6
Core trimming elements
16
Core tablet
5
Overpass
3
Ridge
1
Chips
96
Chunks
52
Total debris
594
Tools
134
Cores
53
Total
781
 
Table 2. Frequency of cores according to production
Type
N
%
Flakes
41
77.4
Blades
5
9.4
Bladelets
6
11.3
Flake/blade
1
1.9
Total
53
100
 
The tools comprised 134 items (Table 3), most of them ad hoc flakes (Fig. 9:1), as well as dentates and notches. Sickle blades (Fig. 9:2, 3) and retouched blades (Fig. 9:4) also appear, but in low percentages. Awls (Fig. 9:5–7) constitute 7.5% of the assemblage, and end scrapers (Fig. 9:8)—6.7%. Some of the items are double tools, as, for example, the tool in Fig. 9:9, which is both a scraper and a denticulate. Not many of the tools are diagnostic, but the assemblage itself is dated to the Chalcolithic and the Bronze Age (Gilead et al. 1995; Rosen 1997; Rowan 2016).
 
Table 3. Frequency of tools by type
Type
N
%
End scraper
9
6.7
Burin
1
0.7
Denticulate/notches
30
22.4
Drill/awl
10
7.5
Complex tools
4
3.0
Retouched blades
13
9.7
Retouched flakes
51
38.1
Bifacial tools
3
2.2
Sickle blades
6
4.5
Side scrapers
7
5.2
Total
134
100
 
Approximately 50 tools and cores were collected from the surface on the southern slope of the spur. These items were not found in situ, and therefore a percentage breakdown of the assemblage is of no significance. These objects include tools such as a side scraper with a steep back (Fig. 10:1), a side scraper (Fig. 10:2) and a backed blade (Fig. 10:3), which appear frequently in Chalcolithic and Bronze Age assemblages (Rosen 1997). Most of the items seem worn and may have been swept down from the top of the spur.
 
This excavation uncovered for the first time in the Yattir Forest a protohistoric site without architectural remains. The flint objects point to the presence of a flint industry in the vicinity of the site, indicating the probable presence of a nearby settlement during the Chalcolithic period and the Bronze Age.