Rahat

In February–September 2020, a trial excavation was conducted in the southern and western outskirts of the city of Rahat (Permit No. A-8713; map ref. 175260–6837/585311–6177; Section 13; Fig. 1 ), prior to the construction of new neighborhoods. The excavation, on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and funded by the Authority for Development and Settlement of the Bedouin in the Negev, was directed by E. Kogan-Zehavi, with the assistance of Y. Abadi-Reiss and A. Lehavi (area supervision), Y. Alamor (administration), M. Kahn (surveying and drafting), E. Aladjem (photogrammetry and drafting), D. Eisenberg-Degen (photography), Y. Asscher and I. Peters (analytical laboratory), Y. Gorin-Rosen (glass), A. Fraiberg (stone and pottery drawing), I. Azulay (plans), L. Perry-Gal (archaeozoology), E. Boaretto (Carbon 14 dating) and N. Sukenik (organic finds), as well as S. Talis, A. Golani, P. Betzer and O. Barzilay. Due to the Covid 19 pandemic and lack of laborers, the excavation was conducted with the participation of IAA employees, including O. Sion, Y. Tchekhanovets, J. Seligman, H. Sokolov, A. Dobrinin, H. Hamer, R. Dagan, I. Azulay, E. Ayash, A. Savorian, Y. Haimi, A. Peretz, E. Valdman, Z. Ben-Baruch, I. Rahamim, Y. Ostrovsky, O. Aflalo, D. Aladjem, S. Drachman, A. Montagu, M. Aslanian, T. Liani, D. Biton, S. Bloch, A. Levy-Hevroni, E. Bischoff, N. Lect Ben Ami, T. Keisar, L. Shilov, T. Sapir, M. Yehuda, L. Davis, Z. Firer, S. Zur, Y. Sion, S. Zehavi and A. Paran—I extend sincere thanks to all.