During December 2011, a salvage excavation was conducted north of Ibtin village and south of Tel Par (Permit No. A-6347; map ref. 21043–55/74119–31). The excavation, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and underwritten by the Zevulun Regional Council, was directed by M. Hater, with the assistance of Y. Amrani (administration), R. Mishayev (surveying and drafting), P. Gendelman (pottery), A. Gorzalczany (consultation) and K. Sa‘id (IAA Haifa district).
The excavation area is located on flat farmland north of Ibtin village in the southeastern Zevulun Valley, c. 2 km northeast of Tel Regev and c. 0.5 km south of Tel Par. Burial caves, cist graves, buildings, remains of a road, rock-cuttings and agricultural installations were discovered in excavations, previously conducted at the site (
HA-
ESI 112:27*–28*,
‘Atiqot 48:9–14,
HA-ESI 121 and Permit No. A-2066). Remains of a settlement and villas, a shaft tomb, rock-cuttings, agricultural installations, a winepress and enclosure walls of a cultivation plot that date to the Early Bronze Age, the Byzantine and Early Islamic periods, the Middle Ages and the Ottoman period were discovered in an excavation conducted c. 250 m southeast of the current excavation (Permit No. A-6178).
Two squares (D5, E7; Fig. 1) were opened and meager walls that probably served to separate cultivation plots were exposed.
Square E7. A wall (W10; length 5.2 m; Fig. 2), oriented southeast-northwest, was exposed 0.6 m below the surface. The wall, built of small and medium fieldstones in dry construction, was preserved a single course high.
Square D5. A wall (W11; length 6.6 m; Fig. 3), aligned north–south, was exposed 0.65 m below the surface. The wall, built of roughly hewn limestone and small fieldstones in dry construction, was preserved a single course high. The stones in the middle of the wall did not survive, probably due to plowing done in the area over the years.
The walls were founded on alluvium that yielded several fragments of pottery vessels from a various periods, the latest dating to the Late Byzantine period.
It seems that the excavated area was part of the agricultural hinterland of the settlement revealed to the southeast (Permit No. A-6178).