During February 2010, a salvage excavation was conducted at an antiquities site located at Triangulation Point F-106 (East; Permit No. A-5832; map ref. 209672–97/729513–31), prior to the installation of a gas pipeline. The excavation, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and underwritten by the Israel Natural Gas Pipeline Company, was directed by E. Oren, with the assistance of S. Ya‘aqov-Jam (administration), Y. Nemichnitzer (surveying and drafting). A. Dagot (GPS) and A. Oshri (antiquities inspection).
The excavation was conducted along the southeastern slopes of the Carmel, c. 1.4 km southwest of Tel Yoqne‘am(Fig. 1; 135 m above sea level). The region was examined within the framework of the Israel Survey (Map of Daliya [31]; signs of rock-cuttings and a cupmark were documented in a survey, performed prior to installing a gas pipeline (Permit No. A-5200).
Two areas (A, B; Fig. 2) were opened; two squares (A1, A2) were excavated in the northern Area A and a cave whose ceiling had collapsed was exposed in the southern Area B.
A layer of thin clay was excavated in Square A1; the layer of modern fill below it was removed with the aid of mechanical equipment. Below the modern layer was another thin layer of clay soil that covered the bedrock. A natural cavity (L114, Fig. 3), devoid of finds, was exposed in the northwestern part of the square.
In Square A2 a thin layer of clay soil was removed, beneath which the bedrock was exposed. A small basalt vessel that was probably meant for pounding, a base of a stone vessel, a metal ring and an Ottoman coin were all found next to the bedrock.
A natural cave whose ceiling had collapsed was discovered in Area B (L104; Fig. 4), c. 6 m south of Squares A1 and A2. A layer of fill (thickness 1.5 m), which included clay soil mixed with modern refuse and fragments of collapsed bedrock, was excavated inside the cave. A cupmark (L107; diam. 0.28 m; Fig. 5) was located south of the cave; alongside it were remains of a rock-cutting that had survived by a small part after the collapse of the cave’s ceiling. The cupmark and rock-cutting remains had already been recorded in a previous survey (Permit No. A-5200).
Three other cupmarks were discovered north of the cave: L108 (diam. 0.22 m), L112 (diam. 0.2 m) and L113 (diam. 0.3 m).
Scant remains dating to the Ottoman period were discovered in the two excavated squares. A natural cave was excavated to their south and around it were four cupmarks and meager remains of a rock-cutting. A few non-diagnostic potsherds were recovered from the cave and around it.