During April 2010, an archaeological survey was conducted on the mountain north of Horbat ‘Inbal (License No. S-179/2010; map ref. 21752–8272/766024–390), prior to development. The survey, on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and at the request of the architect Rami Lapidot, was directed by E. Stern, with the assistance of Y. Gur and N. Getzov (surveyors), A. Shapiro (GPS) and M. Getzov (photography).
An extensive area on the flat top of a mountainwas surveyed west of Qibbuz Yehi‘am and north of the Kelil community; it verified the findings of the Western Galilee survey, performed in the early 1980s by A. Frankel and N. Getzov, and essentially remapped the area with GPS (Fig. 1).
Horbat ‘Inbal is situated on the flat top of the mountain, which is a leveled exposed area of dolomite rock. Most of the area was modeled by a large agricultural project in which field walls delimited farming terraces (Fig. 2). The main walls are oriented east–west; they are 600–800 m long and c. 300 m apart (Fig. 3). The secondary walls, aligned north–south, are 50–150 m long and 50–60 m apart.
Following are the survey sites (Fig. 1):
(1) An ancient road of indeterminate date, of which only sporadic sections were identified.
(2) Horbat ‘Inbal—a farm that was probably built in the Roman period, expanded in the Byzantine period and used until the Crusader period.
(3, 4) Two prehistoric sites; a scattering of flint artifacts was discovered.
(5) A settlement site, probably from the Iron Age.
The archaeological finds show that extensive agricultural preparations were made in the surveyed area, probably during the Roman period.