Area A. The flat area at the top of the hill was apparently leveled using mechanical equipment during the modern era. Two trial squares (L100, L101; depth c. 0.6 m) were excavated, yielding only a layer of loess mixed with ash and charcoal from a modern fire (thickness 0.2 m) overlying natural compacted loess. No artifacts were found in the trial squares or on the surface.
 
Area B. A concentration of flint artifacts from the Middle Paleolithic period (the Mousterian culture) was discovered on the hill’s southwestern slope (L200). Three trial squares (each 1 sq m) were excavated in an area where the concentration of items was the highest, revealing loess devoid of finds.
 
Area C. A scatter of flint artifacts from two blade and bladelet industries—from the Epipaleolithic period and from the Chalcolithic period—was discovered on the eastern slope of the hill (L300). Five trial squares (each 1 sq m) were excavated in an area where numerous well-preserved flint artifacts were noted on the surface, exposing loess soil devoid of finds. In addition, a trial trench (length c. 3.5 m, width 0.4 m) was excavated perpendicular to the slope in search of an in situ archaeological layer; however, no finds were discovered. 
 
Flint Assemblage. The assemblage was mixed because it was gathered from the surface; nevertheless, different characteristics could be discerned on each part of the hill. Flint artifacts from the Middle Paleolithic period were discovered on the southwestern part of the hill (Area B), and flint artifacts from blade industries of the Epipaleolithic and Chalcolithic periods were found on the eastern part of the hill (Area C). Some 348 knapped flint items were collected (Table 1). More than 70% of the items were found to have patination, yet were nevertheless well-preserved. Only 1% of the items in Area C were worn, as opposed to 24% of the items in Area B. Most of the items are knapping debitage, mainly flakes in Area B, and chips, flakes, blades and bladelets in Area C. The main difference between Areas B and C is that Levallois items (Fig. 3:1–3) were found only in Area B, but were absent from Area C, and that blades and the bladelets (Fig. 3:4–13) were more common in Area C.
 
Table 1. Flint assemblage
 
Area B
Area C
Type
N
%
N
%
Chunks
9
11
15
5.6
Chips
6
7.3
54
20.3
Primary flakes
9
11
20
7.5
Primary blades
3
3.7
9
3.4
Flakes
14
17
51
19.2
Blades
3
3.7
30
11.3
Bladelets
4
4.9
45
16.9
Levallois flakes
7
8.5
0
0
Core trimming elements
2
2.4
16
6
Total debitage
57
69.5
240
90.2
Cores
16
19.5
14
5.3
Tools
9
11
12
4.5
Total
82
100
266
100
 
Thirty cores were discovered (Table 2). They display the same pattern of frequency seen in the knapping debitage, whereby Levallois cores (Fig. 4) are common in Area B and blade and bladelet cores (Fig. 5) constitute half of the cores in Area C. The bladelet cores are made of gray homogenous material, and the blade cores are brown, coarse-grain river pebbles. The differences in the raw materials may indicate two separate industries, one from the Epipaleolithic period and the other from the Chalcolithic period.
 
Table 2. Cores
 
Area B
Area C
Type
N
%
N
%
Core fragment
2
12.5
3
21.4
Blade core
0
0
5
35.7
Bladelet core
0
0
2
14.3
Flake core
4
25
4
28.6
Levallois core
10
62.5
0
0
Total
16
100
14
100
 
Twenty-one tools (Table 3) were discovered. Only Levallois tools were found in Area B, whereas a variety of implements, including a bifacial tool (Fig. 6:1) and retouched bladelets (Fig. 6:2), were discovered in Area C. No diagnostic microliths indicative of a particular culture were found.
  
Table 3. Tools
 
Area B
Area C
Type
N
%
N
%
Denticulates and notches
1
11.1
2
16.7
Retouched items
3
33.3
5
41.7
Retouched Levallois flakes
5
55.6
0
0
Side scrapers
0
0
1
8.3
Microliths
0
0
2
16.7
Burins
0
0
1
8.3
Bifacial
0
0
1
8.3
Total
9
100
12
100
 
The trial squares that were devoid of finds indicate that no in situ archaeological remains were left, and that the flint artifacts that were found had been swept there. Some of the finds from the Middle Paleolithic period were scattered over the bedrock outcrop, and they appear to have been swept there in the past. The fine state of preservation of the flint artifacts and their different sizes suggest that the items were not swept a great distance and are near their primary place of deposition. The archaeological strata from the periods from which the flint items date seem to have been near the surface in the high parts of the hill. These were damaged by modern activity, primarily by leveling the soil with mechanical equipment, and were transported by water. These factors dispersed the flint artifacts along the surface and in the channels where water flowed.