In the summer of 2021, trial and salvage excavations was conducted in Area J southeast of Tel Yavne (Permit No. A-8999; map ref. 176/641; Fig. 1). The excavations, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and funded by the Israel Land Authority, were directed by P. Betzer and D. Varga, with the assistance of Y. Abadi-Reiss (area supervision, field photography), D. Golan and R. Shnabel (preliminary inspections), Z. Lotan and T. Uriel (administration), A. Peretz (field photography), E. Marco, Y. Gumenny and N. Leitner (surveying and drafting), A. Fraiberg (digital documentation), D. Golan (Middle Bronze Age pottery), I. Milevski, O. Barzilai and J. Seligman (consultation in the field), Y. Nagar (physical anthropology), L. Perry Gal (archaeozoology), I. Ktalav (malacology), O. Ackerman and J. Marcus ( geomorphology ) and workers from the southern Hebron Hills.
Abadi-Reiss et al. (Sun,) studied this question.