During late January–early February 2012, an excavation was conducted at 12 Ha-Ma‘agal Street in Hod Ha-Sharon (Permit No. A-6408; map ref. 192891–923/673740–99), prior to enlarging a private residence. The excavation, on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, was directed by M. Haiman (field photography), with the assistance of Y. Amrani (administration).
Two excavation squares (3.5×8.0 m) were opened within the precincts of the ‘Magdi’el, Shikun Gil Amal’ antiquities site and meager remains of a building that probably dated to the Abbasid period were exposed. The remains had previously been damaged as a result of development work. A survey conducted at the site in the past documented flint tools and pottery dating to the Epi-palaeolithic, Neolithic, Middle Bronze Age II, Persian, Roman, Byzantine, Early Islamic and Ottoman periods (E. Ayalon. Map of Kefar Saba [77]).
A wall (W103; length 3 m, width 0.7 m; Fig. 1) was exposed in the southern square; its top was visible on the surface prior to the excavation. The wall, aligned east–west, was built of two rows of medium fieldstones with a core of various size stones; it was preserved two courses high (c. 0.5 m). While excavating the wall in the upper level of soil (thickness 0.1 m), fragments of pottery vessels ranging in date from the Byzantine to the Ottoman periods were discovered. A habitation level (thickness 0.4 m) that abutted W103 was uncovered below the upper soil layer. The lower part of this habitation level included an ash layer (thickness 3 cm) that was probably a floor. Fragments of pottery and glass vessels dating only to the Abbasid period and a worn coin were found in the upper part of the habitation level. Wall 103 was adjoined from the north by the scant remains of another wall (W104) that was apparently oriented north–south. A single course of fieldstones in a straight line was all that survived of the wall.
A habitation level (thickness c. 0.4 m) was exposed in the northern square; below it was natural ground. This habitation level included pieces of kurkar building stones and fragments of pottery and glass vessels from the Abbasid period. The lower part of the habitation level included a horizontal layer of ash (thickness c. 3 cm) that might be a floor, similar to the southern square.