During September 2005 an excavation was conducted along Highway 431, between Moshav Yashresh and the Juwarish neighborhood in Ramla (Permit No. A-4588*; map ref. NIG 18650–66/64729–42; OIG 13650–66/14729–42). The excavation, on behalf of the Antiquities Authority, was directed by A. Onn (photography), with the assistance of Y. Nagar (physical anthropology).
Four pit graves (10–13; Figs. 1–4) were exposed in two opened squares, at a depth of 1.2–1.9 m below surface. The graves were shallow elliptical pits, oriented east–west (max. length 1.8 m, width 0.3–0.8 m). Only the opening to Grave 11, dug from surface, was discerned; the lower part of the grave tapered toward the bottom (width of upper part 0.8 m, width at bottom 0.3 m). A single interment in anatomic articulation was discovered in each of the graves, indicating a primary burial. The heads of the deceased were placed in the west. Three of the interred (Loci 11–13) were observed lying on their right side and a single one (L10) was in a supine position. No funerary offerings were discovered in the graves. The anthropological examination of the skeletons was undertaken in the field, without removing the bones. It showed that the four deceased were a child 9–11 years of age (L10), a woman 17–25 years of age (L13) and two adults whose age and gender could not be determined (Loci 11, 12).
The burial at the site is characteristic of a Muslim population and it is very common in this region of the Land of Israel, particularly at the end of the Mamluk (?) period and throughout the Ottoman period. Cemeteries with similar pit graves were discovered at Yad Benyamin (HA-ESI 112:98*–100*; Stratum I), and at Bet Dagan (Permit No. A-4243). Of the seventy pits in the cemetery at Bet Dagan only three of the interred were in a supine position and the rest were laid on their right side.