During January 2009, a survey was conducted in Yoqne‘am ‘Illit, east of Yizhak Rabin Boulevard (License No. S-68/2008; map ref. 20850–900/72715–40), prior to construction. The survey, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and underwritten by the Ministry of Construction and Housing, was directed by B. Hanna and F. Abu Zeidan, with the assistance of V. Shlomi (probe trenches) and A. Shapiro (GPS).
The survey was performed in the northern part of Ramot Menashe, on a hill c. 150 above sea level, north of Nahal Qeret. The survey area was located c. 1.2 km south of Tel Yoqne‘am and c. 0.9 km north of H. Hanot Qira where an Ottoman khan and more ancient remains, among them buildings, caves, tombs, cisterns and potsherds from the Iron Age, the Roman, Byzantine and Early Islamic periods and the Middle Ages, were documented. Architectural remains, rock-cuttings, rock-hewn installations and burial caves were surveyed in the immediate vicinity and potsherds from the Roman–Early Islamic periods were gathered (Map of Mishmar Ha-‘Emeq [32], Sites 10 and 13; Map of Dalia [31], Site 29).
The area is rocky and covered with a thin layer of alluvium and tall dense vegetation (Fig. 1). No new sites were found in the survey that was conducted on foot. In areas where the bedrock was high, it was mostly exposed, while in areas where substantial accumulations of soil covered the bedrock, probe trenches were dug.
Shallow rock-cuttings, without straight sides, were discovered on the broad bedrock terraces that extend northwest-southeast (see Map of Mishmar Ha-‘Emeq [32], Site 10; Fig. 2). The probe trenches indicated that the rock-cuttings were spread across large parts of the hill.
Only a few potsherds that dated to the Roman and Byzantine periods were found.