During July 2000 a trial excavation was conducted in the Muslim cemetery in Haifa (A-3247
*; map ref. NIG 20054–6/74641–4; OIG 15054–6/24641–4), following damage to antiquities caused by digging a sewage trench. The excavation, on behalf of the Antiquities Authority, was directed by A. Massarwa, assisted by V. Pirsky (surveying), E. Belashov (drafting) and Y. Nagar (physical anthropology).
Two areas, 2.5 m apart, were excavated. Area A (3
× 5 m; Fig. 1) consisted of two perpendicular walls (W11, W12) built of fieldstones and bonding material, which belonged to a cist grave that was destroyed by the trench digging. A building wall (W10) was exposed to the south of Walls 11 and 12, and further to the south was a modern sewage installation. The excavation reached bedrock, revealing only faunal remains.
A burial cave discovered in Area B (Fig. 2), south of Area A, was severely damaged by the trench digging. The cave had three burial benches and yielded scant finds, including body fragments of Byzantine, Mamluk and modern pottery vessels, as well as animal bones and modern debris. It seems the cave was plundered in antiquity.