During December 2003, a survey was conducted in the ‘Ami‘ad Quarry (Permit No. A-4036; map ref. NIG 24670–750/75775–815; OIG 19670–750/25775–815), prior to enlargement. The survey, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and underwritten by the Kefar Gil‘adi Quarries, was directed by A. Mokary, with the assistance of L. Yihye and A. Shapiro (GPS).
Seventy-seven sites were surveyed on a southwestern slope, where the quarry is to be enlarged and farther along the slope that extends west of this area (a total of 300 dunams; Fig. 1).
The sites included an elliptical dolmen (No. 1; length c. 8 m) and eleven circular dolmens that consisted of two small ones (Nos. 29, 72; diam. 2 and 4 m), five medium-sized (Nos. 3, 40, 43, 45, 48; diam. 4.4–9.0 m) and four large ones (Nos. 13, 16, 17, 69; diam. 10–12 m; Fig. 2). The remains of burial cells could be seen in the middle of the dolmens; a built burial cell (height 0.5 m), paved with flat stones, survived in Dolmen 69; at least two burial cells built of large stones were identified in Dolmen 16, which consisted of medium and large fieldstones. Eleven dolmens, whose identification was uncertain, were also surveyed: one elongated (No. 59; 4 × 8 m) and the rest circular (Nos. 7, 14, 18, 19, 21, 26, 33, 42, 57, 58; diam. 5.0–7.3 m). Building remains were discerned in the middle of Dolmen 18 and flat stones were observed in Dolmen 57. Forty-three stone clearance heaps were identified: one elliptical (No. 11; length 6 m), two of irregular shape (Nos. 5, 41), thirteen elongated (Nos. 8, 27, 31, 36, 38, 44, 49, 51, 56, 62, 73–75; length 6–10 m, width c. 3 m) and the rest circular (Nos. 2, 6, 9, 10, 15, 22, 23, 28, 32, 34, 37, 39, 47, 50, 52–55, 60, 61, 63–68, 78; diam. 2–10 m; Fig. 3).
Nine walls (width 0.5–1.0 m), mostly built of fieldstones, were documented in the survey area. Some were probably used to delineate cultivation plots (Nos. 12, 24, 30, 71; length 30–50 m, max. preserved height 0.5 m; Fig. 4). Others formed open rectangular and circular enclosures (No. 4—c. 19 × 19 m; No. 20—length of perimeter wall c. 50 m; No. 25—6 × 8 m; No. 46—at least 15 × 50 m; No. 76—length of perimeter wall c. 60 m); one of the enclosures (No. 46) was built of roughly hewn limestone. Other antiquities surveyed included a kind of passage (No. 77; length 22 m, width 5 m) that was hewn along the slope in an east–west direction; a cluster of four rock-hewn cupmarks (No. 70; Fig. 5), three of which were identical in size (diam. 0.6 m) and one was smaller (diam. 0.4 m); and a single quarry (No. 35; length 2 m).
The dolmens indicate that the surveyed area was used as a burial site, probably in the Intermediate Bronze Age. The stone clearance heaps, field walls and enclosures show that in a later period, whose date cannot be determined, the area was used for agriculture.