Ḥorbat ‘Orva

In February 2020, an excavation was conducted at H orbat ‘Orva, east of the Ela Valley (Permit No. A-8682; map ref. 20224/61920; Fig. 1; Libner at al. 2022), following intensive looting of the site. The excavation, on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Hebrew University and funded by the Roger and Susan Hertog Center for the Archaeology of Jerusalem and Judah at the Hebrew University , was directed by U. Leibner (The Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University) and G. Goldenberg (Israel Antiquities Authority's Antiquities Theft Prevention Unit), with the assistance of E. Klein, I. Wachtel, A. Yehezkiel, E. Marko and S. Halevy (documentation and photography), O. Zakaim (plans), N. Goldberg (processing of artifacts) and Y. Farhi (numismatics). Students from the Aderet premilitary program, instructors from the Kefar ‘E z yon field school, local residents, students from the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University and inspectors from the Israel Antiquities Authority's Antiquities Theft Prevention Unit also participated in the excavation.