During July 2004, a salvage excavation was conducted in the center of Dabburiya village, south of the local council building (Permit No. A-4225; map ref. NIG 235155–65/732955–65; OIG 185155–65/232955–65), subsequent to the discovery of antiquities in a lot slated for construction. The excavation, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and underwritten by the contractor, was directed by R. Abu Raya, with the assistance of Y. Lavan (administration), N. Getzov (field photography) and H. Tahan (pottery drawings).
Small-scale excavations and surveys that had previously been conducted in Dabburiya have uncovered fragmentary remains and potsherds that ranged in date from the Iron Age until the Ottoman period (Map of Mount Tabor [41] and Map of En Dor [45], Site 63; ESI 15:126).
Two squares (A, B; Fig. 1) were opened in the current excavation, revealing building remains from the Late Roman or Byzantine periods and a wall foundation that may be dated to the Middle Bronze Age or the Roman period.
Square A. A layer of soil (L104; thickness c. 0.5 m) that overlay virgin soil was exposed. It contained fragments of pottery vessels, including a cooking pot (Fig. 2:4) and jars (Fig. 2:5–7) from the Late Roman period. A cluster of fieldstones (L111) in the western part of the square contained similar ceramic finds that included a krater rim, dating to the Late Roman period (Fig. 2:3).
A beaten chalk floor (L103; thickness c. 0.1 m; Fig. 3) that extended across most of the square area was exposed above Loci 104 and 111. Potsherds from the Roman or Byzantine periods were found within the floor. A square pit (L106; 1 × 1 m, depth 0.5 m) and the foundation of a modern wall (W1) penetrated Floor 103. Potsherds that dated to the Early Roman period, including a jar rim (Fig. 2:2), as well as potsherds from the Umayyad (eighth century CE) and Mamluk (thirteenth–fourteenth centuries CE) periods were collected from these disturbances.
Square B. A cluster of fieldstones (thickness c. 1 m), c. 4 m north of Square A, was exposed in the middle of the square (2 × 3 m). The cluster sealed three large fieldstones (0.5 × 0.5 × 0.6 m), arranged in a row above a layer of natural silt, which were probably part of an ancient terrace wall. Fragments of pottery vessels that dated to the Middle Bronze Age, including a pithos rim (Fig. 2:1) and the Roman period, were found above and within the cluster of stones.