The excavation area (3×18 m; Fig. 1) extends across a slope that descends east toward the Sea of Galilee; it lies north of the Scottish Hotel and the Ottoman city wall and east of the Ottoman fortress. An extensive cemetery was revealed in this region when the area was being exposed and the Ministry of Religious Affairs supervised the fieldwork. Walls built during the British Mandate era and tombs that predated them were exposed. Prior to the excavation, the area was tested, utilizing ground penetrating radar.
A broad wall (W1; width 0.85 m; Fig. 2) that extended the entire length of the excavation area was exposed. It served to delimit a plot of land and was built of roughly hewn stones and fieldstones without mortar; only the foundations of the wall were preserved. The date of the wall was determined by two old photographs of the excavation vicinity. The wall does not appear in the first photo, taken in 1908 (Fig. 3) and in the second, which is an aerial photograph taken by the Germans in 1918 (Fig. 4), the wall is clearly visible and delineates a lot located north of the Scottish Hospital (today, the Scottish Hotel). A square pool, still preserved today, was adjacent to the upper part of the wall. A comparison of the two photographs shows that Wall 1 was built between 1908 and 1918. Another wall (W2; width 1.15 m) whose construction was similar to that of Wall 1 abutted the latter from the south. Wall 2 does not appear on the photograph taken in 1918 and therefore, it was built thereafter. A floor was exposed west of Wall 2; it consisted of fieldstones and plaster (L110; 0.79×1.10 m) and ended in a straight line close to the southern boundary of the excavation. The floor was lower than a grave (L115), which was discovered west of it and c. 4 cm lower than the foundations of Wall 2.
Eight tombs (L103, L107, L108, L114, L115, L118–L120) were discovered south of Wall 1 and three tombs (L113, L116 and L117) were located to its north.The tombs were oriented north–south, save one (L120), which was aligned east–west. The tombs were damaged during the construction of the wall and some were disturbed prior to that. Some of the tombs were lower than the wall’s foundation. The tombs were dug in the ground and lined with stone slabs or fieldstones that were mostly plastered. Two covering stones were preserved on Tomb 108. Fragments of human bones were discovered in several of the tombs, whose excavation was suspended. It is unclear whether Tomb 107 was used as a tomb, since its side was incorporated in Wall 1; the western side of this tomb was considerably wider than the sides of the other tombs and no burial remains were discovered in it. The tombs were devoid of datable finds.
The excavation area extends beyond the limits of the city of Tiberias and its history can be divided into four phases: (1) Tombs oriented north–south, were cut in virgin soil. These tombs were broken into and remained open; (2) the area was covered with soil fill, small stones and pieces of plaster, which also penetrated into the open tombs. The fill was devoid of finds and could not be dated; however, it probably derived from the destruction of the nearby fortress’ walls during the earthquake that struck the region in 1837; (3) other tombs were dug in the layer of fill and they too were aligned north–south. The tombs, lined with stones and several are plastered, were also damaged. The covering stones on one of the tombs were preserved; and (4) the cemetery was not known at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries CE, Wall 1 was built, causing further destruction to the tombs.