Bene Beraq, Tel (South)

In July-November 2017, a trial excavation was conducted south of Tel Bene Beraq (Permit No. A-8044; map ref. 183588-794/659910-60227), prior to work on diverting Nahal Ayyalon. The excavation, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and financed by the Ariel Sharon Park Authority, was directed by D. Golan, R. Be'eri and A. Dayan, with the assistance of M. Karkovsky, G. Haklay and T. Rudin (area supervision), T. Harpak (area supervision; pottery), G. Tal, Y. Levinger, A. Wiemann and A. Eshhar (drafting and area-supervision assistance), I. Jonish, V. Shustin, E. Oren and D. Abu Salah (excavation preparations), Y. Amrani and E. Bachar (administration), A. Dagot-Ziv (GPS), M. Cohen, Y. Shmidov, V. Essman and M. Kunin (surveying and drafting), A. Peretz, R. Be'eri and M. Karkovsky (field photography), Y. Marmelstein (drone photography), L. Ben-Dror of Griffin Company (drone photography), Y. Raskin (geoarchaeology), J. Vardi (flints), E. van den Brink (Chalcolithic pottery), R. Shahack-Gross and I. Ogloblin (microarchaeology), L. Perry (faunal remains), J. Regev (radiocarbon dating) and D. Golan (preliminary inspection). Additional assistance was provided by J. Stern, D. Ben Ami, M. Ajami, D. Barkan and P. Gendelman. We are grateful to the many researchers who visited the excavation and contributed much information, as well as to the staff of the Dan Region Association and Ariel Sharon Park for their assistance during the excavation.