Four excavation areas (A–D) were opened at spots where preliminary trial trenches had exposed stone and potsherd surfaces. An agricultural installation, parts of walls and a stone surface, dating from the late Persian and early Hellenistic periods were unearthed. These elements were probably part of the agricultural hinterland of a Phoenician settlement centered at Tel Nahariyya, near Nahal Ga‘aton’s outlet to the sea.
 
Area A. The base of an agricultural installation built of kurkar stones on the alluvium layer was uncovered (L103; 1 × 1 m; Fig. 2). No pottery or other diagnostic finds were found to date the installation.
 
Area B. A section of a field wall, built of large limestones (W202; length 2 m, width 0.9 m), was exposed on a sand layer (L201; Fig. 3). No pottery or other diagnostic finds were found to date the wall.
 
Area C. A section of a wall, built of limestones and kurkar stones (W302; length 3 m, width 0.6 m) was exposed (Fig. 4). The wall exhibited traces of gray plaster and marine-sand mortar. The wall was dated by many adjacent sherds of storage jars dated to the late Persian and early Hellenistic periods (late fourth to early third centuries BCE). The wall may have been part of a building that was used to store agricultural produce.
 
Area D. Part of a stone surface made of large and medium-sized kurkar stones bedded on soil, was exposed (L102; 2 × 4 m; Fig. 5). A limestone mortar (Basket 1004; Fig. 6) incorporated between the stones was probably used for processing agricultural produce. The stone surface may have been the platform of a field hut, whose walls and roof were built of perishable materials and were not preserved. Most of the pottery found near the surface and between its stones were sherds of storage jars dating to the late Persian and early Hellenistic periods. The storage jars were presumably used for storing agricultural produce.
 
Pottery. Areas C and D yielded many body sherds and handles of storage jars. The few rims retrieved included a casserole with a thickened inverted rim (Fig. 7:1), a cooking pot with handles drawn from the rim (Fig. 7:2), a storage jar with an everted rim (Fig. 7:3) and two amphorae (Fig. 7:4, 5). The pottery vessels have parallels in the Persian period, for example at Tel Dor, where they are dated to the late fourth and early third centuries BCE (Stern 1995:51–68).