The site of Giv‘at Rabbi (East) was identified in a preliminary survey, ahead of the widening of Highway 79 (Khalaily and Marder 2009). The survey recorded numerous flint items and tools from two main periods—the Middle Paleolithic and Neolithic periods. The large quantity of debitage and tools suggests that the aera of the site was used over a prolonged period of time for flint knapping and tool production. Past excavations at the nearby site of ‘En Zippori (for background and references, see Mokary 2020) uncovered remains of a settlement from the Middle Paleolithic, Pre-Pottery Neolithic B and C, Early and Late Chalcolithic, Early, Intermediate and Middle Bronze Age, as well as the Roman, Byzantine, Crusader and Mamluk periods. Architectural remains uncovered near the current excavation were dated to the PPNB, the Early Chalcolithic (Wadi Rabah culture), the Early Bronze IB and the Roman periods (Yaroshevich 2016; Fig. 1: A-7177).

The excavation was located between two hills (Fig. 2). From this location, rainwater running down both hills collected and drained to the southwest. Two squares were excavated (A1, A2; Figs. 3, 4), revealing a massive wall built on virgin soil. The wall consisted of two rows of stones (W14, W18), some of which were worked, and a fill of stones. In Square A1, only the wall’s southern face was exposed, while its northern face probably lies beyond the excavation limits. A millstone (Fig. 5) was incorporated into the wall. An accumulation of small, worn stones was documented north of the wall, suggesting that it may have been built to divert water. A probe (L19; depth c. 0.9 m) sunken into the wall’s fill produced sherds of the Roman period, including Galilean bowls (Fig. 6:1, 2) and jars (Fig. 6:3–6).
 
Flint items. Sixty-seven worn artifacts were discovered (Table 1); many were broken or had worn working edges, and most (51) bore gray-yellow patina. The majority of the items (c. 82%; 55 items) were made of opaque, calcareous gray-white flint, some of which contained yellow veins, while the remainder (c. 18%) were made of translucent or semi-translucent gray flint. Only one indicative item was discovered—a bifacial axe (16 × 35 × 62 mm; Fig. 7:1) made of semi-translucent grayish flint.
 
Table 1. Item frequencies in the Flint assemblage
Item
N
%
Flakes
14
20.90
Blades
1
1.49
Core trimming element
2
2.99
Naturally backed flakes
1
1.49
Preliminary flakes
12
17.91
Preliminary blades
2
2.99
Cores
9
13.43
Tools
9
13.43
Chunks
17
25.37
Total
67
100
 
Due to the poor state of preservation of the items, intentional retouch could not be distinguished from scars caused by post-depositional processes. Thus, only items with a uniform scar pattern extending over 1 cm or more were categorized as tools. A total of nine items answered this definition. They included the axe noted above, a scraper, two retouched flakes, two notched flakes, a flake with a notch and a proximal truncation, and two more broken retouched items that could not be assigned a type (not illustrated).
Nine items were classified as cores. Four cores were used to produce flakes; two had a single striking platform (Fig. 7:3), and two had numerous striking platforms. One of the single-platform cores was a bladelet core (Fig. 7:2), and three cores were discarded early in the reduction process, as indicated by the sparsity of scars produced to remove the cortex and shape the core. Finally, one core was broken and could not be classified.
 
The poor state of preservation of the flint items indicates that the assemblage was not in situ but represents a secondary deposit. The flint axe is typical of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic flint industries, which is to be expected given ‘En Zippori’s proximity and the evidence for extensive flint knapping and tool production in the area. The wall unearthed in the excavation was apparently intended to divert water, perhaps rainwater that flowed from the direction of Giv‘at Rabbi to the southwest. Ostensibly, it dates from the Roman period, like the walls uncovered c. 150 m to the northwest (Yaroshevich 2016).