Abstract
The present excavations, which included two seasons, were conducted by the authors under the auspices of the Israel Antiquities Authority as a salvage project for road construction. Two areas were opened, totaling 500 m2 of excavated area.
Five archaeological layers were discerned, two of which were attributed to separate Pre-Pottery Neolithic occupations. In the last season (2003), a thick layer of EPPNB was excavated, yielding distinct architectural remains and burials. The cultural materials included rich flint and obsidian assemblages, animal bones, stone tools, and several figurines.
Among the unique discoveries was a cache of 58 Naviform flint blades. The cache was hidden approximately 0.70 m underneath a thick plaster floor. The artifacts were grouped in a manner suggesting that they were kept together in a wooden box or leather sack.
Preliminary observations have indicated that the blades were heat treated before knapping. The blades are quite long, averaging 16 cm in length, and demonstrating several stages in the reduction sequence. We assert that this cache was knapped from one core, based on successful refitting of several blades.