The excavations along Highway 3 yielded pottery from the Iron Age. The finds were retrieved from fills without clear stratigraphic context, and no architectural remains from the Iron Age were identified. The vessels are therefore presented chronologically, dating from the Iron Age IIA and IIB (tenth–eighth centuries BCE), based on parallels from sites in Judaea, the Shephelah and the southern coastal plain, such as Tel Lakhish, Tel Batash, Tel es-Safi and Tel Ashdod. The Iron Age IIA pottery comprises Philistine-style kraters and chalices, while the Iron Age IIB artifacts include open, rounded and carinated bowls, cooking pots and holemouth jars. These vessels indicate the existence of one or more settlements in the area during this period, as part of the broader settlement distribution between Judaea and the southern coastal plain. The recovered artifacts relate to storage, food preparation and possibly ritual activities.
Svetlana Talis (Sun,) studied this question.