Yavne-Yam (map ref. NIG 1708–22/6470–92; OIG 1208–22/1470–92; Fig 1:1). Remains of the port city of Yavne-Yam, on the western kurkar ridge and the plain to its east. Middle Bronze Age II ramparts, numerous building remains dating to various periods, masonry stone quarries in bedrock outcrops along the shore and rock-hewn caves are visible. Many diverse finds are ascribed to Middle Bronze Age II, the Late Bronze Age, Iron Age II and the Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Early Islamic periods; a few finds are dated to the Middle Ages and the Ottoman period.

 

Mezad Hashavyahu (map ref. NIG 1707/6462; OIG 1207/1462; Fig 1:2). Remains of the coastal fortress, dating to the later part of the Iron Age (seventh–sixth centuries BCE), c. 1.7 km south of Yavne-Yam. A large quantity of potsherds was discerned, including imported vessels.

 

Nahal Soreq South (map ref. NIG 17415/64900; OIG 12415/14900; Fig 1:3). Several dozen meters of an artificial rampart, built of clay bricks and oriented north–south. The rampart was part of the Middle Bronze Age II compound that had previously been noted by R. Gophna (Tel Aviv 8, 1981:77). It is not possible to discern today if any other ramparts abutted it because of massive sand dune covering and dense vegetation. The finds included very few potsherds. This site was probably connected to the kiln site located on the other side of Nahal Soreq.

 

Nahal Soreq A (map ref. NIG 1750/6488; OIG 1250/1488; Fig 1:4). Remains of an ashlar-built structure, including walls, vaults and a channel, which may be a flour mill, were discovered in the wadi channel, opposite Nabi Rubin. A few worn potsherds from the Ottoman period were found. The flour mill probably served the visitors who made a pilgrimage to Nabi Rubin.

 

Nahal Soreq B (map ref. NIG 17445/64905; OIG 12445/14905; Fig 1:5). A Middle Bronze Age II site where pottery vessels were manufactured is located along the water line of the wadi’s northern bank. Two pottery kilns and settlement remains were excavated in the past (ESI 1:77–78; L. Singer-Avitz and Y. Levy, in M. Fischer [1991], Yavne-Yam and its Surroundings:101–105 [Hebrew]). Today, the wadi’s current is exposing other pottery kilns and remains of fieldstone and mud-brick walls.

 

En-Nabi Rubin (map ref. NIG 1749/6485; OIG 1249/1485; Fig 1:6). Various remains from the Ottoman period and modern era, attesting to mass celebrations and pilgrimages in recent centuries, were found inside the burial compound, identified with Re’uven Ben Ya‘aqov and within a large radius around it.

 

Daharat al-Humraiya, Northeast (map ref. NIG 1762/6497; OIG 1262/1497; Fig 1:7). An industrial structure was built during the British Mandate on top of a kurkar hill and agricultural activity took place, including the growing of orchards; a well was also found. The finds included potsherds and fragments of ceramic pipes from the Ottoman to the modern periods. On a kurkar hill c. 400 m to the southwest (map ref. NIG 1758/6492; OIG 1258/1492; Fig 1:8), many tombs replete with finds from Middle Bronze Age II and Late Bronze Age II had been excavated in the past (QDAP 13:75–91). A two-story residential building was constructed on the hill at the time of the British Mandate.

 

Daharat al-Humraiya, East (map ref. NIG 1760/6491; OIG 1260/1491; Fig 1:9). A large hamra hill, at whose western foot a three-story residential building was constructed during the British Mandate, as well as a concrete water reservoir, c. 200 m east of the hill with the tombs. Above the hill and along its bottom were a few finds that dated to the Middle Ages and the Ottoman to modern era.

 

El Jisr (map ref. NIG 1761/6479; OIG 1261/1479; Fig 1:10). Located on a low kurkar hill along the eastern bank of Nahal Soreq, at the confluence with a small tributary, opposite Tel Mahoz. A concentration of dressed kurkar stones in the wadi channel probably belonged to a bridge that once spanned it. Four burial caves with a wealth of finds from Middle Bronze Age II (PMJB 2:2–7; QDAP 12:31–42) had previously been excavated. Finds collected during the survey included a Rhodian handle (Fig. 2), coins and potsherds, as well as building remains and a large cave that indicates an established settlement from the Hellenistic and Early Roman periods, which probably had a commanding view beyond Nahal Soreq in the direction of Yavne-Yam.

 

Tel Mahoz [Tell es-Sultan] (map ref. NIG 1759/6475; OIG 1259/1475; Fig 1:11). The tell, c. 350 m west of Nahal Soreq, was first surveyed in the 1950s, whereby potsherds from the Early Bronze Age, Middle Bronze Age II, Late Bronze Age (?), Iron Age I–II and the Persian and Hellenistic periods were discovered (IEJ 2:104–117). Today, the site is covered with shifting sand dunes and dense vegetation; orchards planted in recent generations grow on parts of it. A few non-diagnostic potsherds were found.

'Ayanot, West (map ref. NIG 1773/6472; OIG 1273/1472; Fig 1:12). A low broad kurkar hill, overlaid with residential structures, a low water tower and other buildings from the time of the British Mandate. A few ashlars and fieldstones, numerous potsherds, fragments of glass vessels, tesserae, pieces of roof tiles, ceramic tiles and fragments of marble elements, mostly dating to the Byzantine period, are scattered across a rather small area at the top of the hill. These are probably the remains of an architectural complex that included a church and may have possibly been a rural monastery.

 

Sabil Abu Nabbut (map ref. NIG 1785/6468; OIG 1285/1468; Fig 1:13). This structure, which provided drinking water to passersby, was built on the eastern side of the road, leading from Jaffa to Gaza, by way of Yavne, by the governor of Jaffa, Mahmoud Abu Nabbut, at the beginning of the nineteenth century CE. The square structure is topped with a dome and covers a well; a plastered pool was built next to it, to the south. A few potsherds from the Ottoman period and modern era were collected.

Tirat Shalom, Northwest (map ref. NIG 17945/64725; OIG 12945/14725; Fig 1:14). Building remains, which probably date from the nineteenth century CE, are situated on a lofty kurkar hilltop. The building, which originally had included vaults, was constructed from dressed kurkar masonry stones and stone-rubble fills and plastered on the interior. The eastern vault collapsed. In a later phase, probably at the time of the British Mandate, a stone-built and plastered wall had partitioned the vaults. A few potsherds from the Late Ottoman period and modern era were found.

 

Tirat Shalom, Southwest (map ref. NIG 1788/6461; OIG 1288/1461; Fig 1:15). A site on a hamra hill in the plain west of the second kurkar ridge that dated to the Persian and Hellenistic periods. Potsherds from the Ottoman period and modern era indicated late cultivation in the area.

 

Kefar Ha-Nagid, West A (map ref. NIG 1759/6443; OIG 1259/1443; Fig 1:16). A site from Early Bronze Age I–II and the Byzantine, Ottoman and modern periods, on a low hamra hill, west of Nahal Soreq.

 

Kefar Ha-Nagid, West B (map ref. NIG 1761/6447; OIG 1261/1447; Fig 1:17). Scattered potsherds and other finds from the Byzantine, Ottoman and modern periods on a low hamra hill, c. 400 m northeast of the previous site. This one site had probably two settlement cores.

 

Tel Shalaf (map ref. NIG 1783/6445; OIG 1283/1445; Fig 1:18). On the tell, which is situated on a kurkar hill, are finds dating to Middle Bronze Age II, Late Bronze Age, Iron Age I, Iron Age II (mostly) and the Persian period. Remains of stone and mud-brick construction were identified, including a wide wall at the western foot of the tell, which is ascribed to Iron Age II. During the British Mandate the residents of the adjacent village of Qubeiba built houses on the tell. Handles of pottery vessels engraved with Hebrew letters and an almost intact ceramic figurine of a woman, holding an infant and dating to Iron Age II (Fig. 3) were found.

 

Tel Shalaf, Northwest (map ref. NIG 1776/6448; OIG 1276/1448; Fig 1:19). Finds from Late Bronze Age II and Iron Age I were collected and building remains and finds from the British Mandate times were surveyed on a low kurkar hill, c. 600 m northwest of Tel Shalaf. Complete pottery vessels from Late Bronze Age II were discovered at this site in 1999 (HA-ESI 113:73*).

 

El Qubeiba (map ref. NIG 1786/6448; OIG 1286/1448; Fig 1:20). Remains of the Arab village, which include a few buildings, in situ, situated on a kurkar hill and at its foot. Finds from the Early Islamic period, Middle Ages, Ottoman and modern periods were recorded, as well as a variety of marble elements that were probably brought over from the adjacent site that dated to the Byzantine period.

 

El Qubeiba, Southeast (map ref. NIG 1789/6443; OIG 1289/1443; Fig 1:21). A site on a plain, east of El Qubeiba; finds from the Byzantine and Early Islamic periods were recovered.

 

En-Nabi Qanda (map ref. NIG 1791/6449; OIG 1291/1449; Fig 1:22). A high steep kurkar hill northeast of El Qubeiba. The tomb of Nabi Qanda, which had been situated here in the past (identified with Gad Ben Ya‘aqov), was completely destroyed as a result of kurkar quarrying at the site. Wall foundations, along with a water cistern and remains of tombs, among them infant burials within jars, were recorded. Potsherds dating to the Early Islamic, Mamluk, Ottoman and modern periods were collected.

 

Kh. el-Ajjuri (Kh. Ed-Duheisha; map ref. NIG 1783–7/6431–8; OIG 1283–7/1431–8; Fig 1:23). A large ruin, situated on a low broad hamra hill, where finds from Middle Bronze Age II and the Persian, Late Roman, Byzantine, Early Islamic and modern periods were noted, as well as building remains from the Roman or Byzantine periods and later. During the Crusader, Mamluk and Ottoman periods the center of the settlement shifted to the alluvial plain north of the hill that apparently remained uninhabited.

 

Ben-Zakkay, East (map ref. NIG 1752/6410; OIG 1252/1410; Fig 1:24). A small site on a slight rise in a plain between Yavne and Moshav Ben-Zakkay. Numerous scattered fieldstones that probably belonged to remains of buildings, which were destroyed by intensive plowing, were documented. Various finds from the Persian and Hellenistic periods, including fragments of imported pottery vessels, were noted.

Yavne (map ref. NIG 1755–68/6406–25; OIG 1255–68/1406–25; Fig 1:25). On Tel Yavne and at the foot of the tell, finds from Middle Bronze Age II, Late Bronze Age, Iron Age I and II and the Persian, Hellenistic, Early and Late Roman, Byzantine, Early Islamic, Crusader, Mamluk, Ottoman and modern periods, were documented. Most of the architectural finds visible on the tell date from the Byzantine period to the modern era. Potsherds from Iron Age II and the Hellenistic and Byzantine periods were found on a hill to the northwest of the tell, where the temporary immigrant camp, ed-Dir, was situated. During the course of development work and survey on this hill, cult vessels that probably belonged to a temple from Iron Age II were found. In the wake of this discovery a salvage excavation was conducted (HA-ESI 115:46*–47*). Finds were spread over a radius of several hundred meters along the plain, flanking the tell from the south and west. Most of them dated to the Byzantine period and indicated the growth of the city of Yavne in this period. Remains associated with the agricultural activity of the Yavne village residents during the British Mandate times were also found.

 

Triangulation Point 49 (map ref. NIG 1761/6406; OIG 1261/1406; Fig 1:26). Remains of a site dating to Iron Age II and the Persian, Hellenistic, Early and Late Roman periods were discovered at the eastern foot of a kurkar hill, c. 700 m south of Tel Yavne. On the southern slope of the hill, hewn shaft tombs from Middle Bronze Age II that were damaged due to kurkar quarrying were identified. During the British Mandate, two residential structures were built and a well was dug.

 

Esh Sharqiye (map ref. NIG 1773/6413; OIG 1273/1413; Fig 1:27). A site, which dates to the Hellenistic, Roman (?), Byzantine, Ottoman and modern periods, including a rock-hewn cave, was discovered on two low kurkar hills and on a plain between them, c. 1 km east of Yavne.