Two previous archaeological surveys were undertaken in the vicinity of the gas pipeline, which runs along and parallel to the planned fuel line (Haiman and Barda 2006; Permit No. S-580/2015). These revealed mainly sherds from the Byzantine period, but scatters of flint from the Epipaleolithic period were also documented.
Seven squares (28 sq m on a 2 × 2 m grid) were opened in compact loess soil along the fuel pipeline, where preliminary inspections identified finds. The squares were excavated down to the natural soil (depth 0.4 m) and yielded a wealth of flint items attributed to the Kebaran culture.
 
A total of 1,181 flint items was retrieved (Table 1); they are poorly preserved and covered with patina, and a large percentage is broken. Most of the items are knapping debris, the most common of which are flakes (15.9%) and bladelets (7.5%). A high percentage of core trimming elements was also identified (3.8%), including core tablets, ridges, overpasses and other core trimming elements. Microburins (MBT; 0.3%) were also found. The assemblage contains high percentages of tools and cores. The cores (Table 2; Fig. 3) typical of the assemblage have a single striking platform and were used to produce either bladelets (40.4%) or both bladelets and flakes (19.1%).
The assemblage contains 106 tools (Table 3), the most common of which are ad-hoc tools (c. 33%), which include mainly retouched flakes and blades. End scrapers and burins are also common, comprising c. 29% of the tool assemblage, with simple scrapers (Fig. 3:1, 2) and thumb scrapers (Fig. 3:3) being the most common among the end scrapers. The beaked burin and the dihedral burin (Fig. 3:4) are prominent among the burins, but the nucleiform burin (Fig. 3:5) is not. Microliths (Fig. 3:6–9) comprise another rather large group in the tool assemblage. Though most are broken, their similar characteristics are discernable: all display a straight back, have either abrupt or semi-abrupt retouching and are at the most 5.5 mm wide.
 
Table 1. The Flint Assemblage
Type
N
%
Primary flakes
71
6.0
Primary blades
13
1.1
Flakes
188
15.9
Blades
74
6.3
Bladelets
89
7.5
Core tablets
10
0.8
Ridges
15
1.3
Overpasses
7
0.6
Other core trimming elements
13
1.1
Burin spall
1
0.1
Microburins
4
0.3
Chips
437
37.0
Chunks
106
9.0
Total debris
1,028
87.0
Cores
47
4.0
Tools
106
9.0
Total
1,181
100
 
Table 2. The Core Assemblage
Type
Blades/
Bladelets
Bladelets
Flakes
Flakes/
Bladelets
Total
Single striking platform
 
40.4
 
19.1
59.5
Two parallel striking platforms
4.3
6.4
 
2.1
12.8
Two non-parallel striking platforms
 
4.3
4.3
10.6
19.2
Discoidal
 
 
4.3
2.1
6.4
Core fragment
 
 
2.1
 
2.1
Total
4.3
51.1
10.7
33.9
100
 
Table 3. The tool assemblage
Type
N
%
End scrapers
14
13.21
Burins
17
16.04
Truncated
5
4.71
Awls
4
3.77
Notches
9
8.49
Denticulates
2
1.89
Retouched flakes
20
18.87
Retouched blades
15
14.15
Retouched bladelets
3
2.83
Microliths
9
8.49
Side scrapers
2
1.89
Double tools
2
1.89
Varia
3
2.83
Unidentified
1
0.94
Total
106
100
 
The flint assemblage, especially the cores and the straight-backed microliths, are typical of assemblages of the Kebaran culture (19,000–14,500 BP; Bar-Yosef 1970; Hovers and Marder 1991). The poor state of preservation of the items found in the excavation and their appearance only in the plowed field indicate that they were swept into the site from their original site of deposition.