During September 2011, a salvage excavation was conducted at 50 Brodezky Street in Tel Aviv, within the precincts of the Tell Qasile antiquities site (North; Permit No. A-6288; map ref. 181141–57/668549–76), prior to construction. The excavation, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and underwritten by A. Atad, was directed by L. Rauchberger (field photography), with the assistance of Y. Amrani (administration), H. Ben-Ari (GPS, surveying and drafting), M. Shuiskaya (pottery drawing), L. Kupershmidt (metallurgical laboratory), G. Bijovsky (numismatics), A. Gorzalczany (guidance), M. Ajami, D. Barkan, A. Buchennino and S. Yehielov (Tel Aviv district) and three laborers from Wadi ‘Ara.
The site is located north of Nahal Ha-Yarkon, c. 1 km north of Tell Qasile (Fig. 1). A kurkar-built foundation was discovered during a preliminary antiquities inspection. Part of a cemetery of the Arab village Sheikh Munis and cesspits hewn in the kurkar bedrock were discovered in an excavation conducted 530 m southeast of a site (HA-ESI 124).
An area (27 sq m; Fig. 2) was opened; a building foundation was discovered, as well as fragments of pottery vessels dating to the Late Ottoman period and a coin from the Early Roman period.
The foundation was aligned north–south and built of dressed kurkar bonded with hamra and gray mortar mixed with lime inclusions (L100; 0.5 × 2.6 × 5.5 m; Figs. 2, 3); it was preserved three courses high. Collapsed and broken kurkar stones, aligned east–west (L103; 0.70 × 1.35 m) and originating in the foundation located to the west, were exposed. East of the foundation, two cooking pot handles (Fig. 4:1, 2) and the rim of a handmade bowl (Fig. 4: 3) were found in brown sandy soil fill mixed with modern debris (L101) that originated from the construction work carried out near the excavation area. The handles are made of gray clay mixed with mica and are decorated with thin incised lines and small holes perforated by a sharp object prior to firing in a kiln. Such vessels were first produced in the Mamluk period and continued to be manufactured during the Ottoman period as well. Several fragments of a jug belonging to the gray and black Gaza ware, characteristic of finds in the Ottoman period, were also found in the fill. A coin, minted in Jerusalem in 29–30 CE by the procurator during the reign of Emperor Tiberius (IAA 140950), was found amongst the stones while cleaning the upper surface of the foundation.
The foundation of a building was exposed in the excavation; the shape and nature of the structure are unclear. Based on the style of the foundation’s construction, the mortar used to bond the stones and the meager potsherds that were found in the fill abutting it, the structure is dated to the Late Ottoman period. The location of the foundation in an area that was previously used for orchards belonging to the Arab village of Sheikh Munis, whose core was situated east of the excavation area, suggests that the foundation was part of a building connected with operating the orchards. The village was established in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century CE and was abandoned during the War of Independence in 1948.