and 980 BCE with 95.4% probability. The building layout of the later phase of Iron Age II is characterised by an obvious rearrangement of the houses, though not the city wall. In the public area the depot for oil pithoi of the older phase had apparently been closed and the large storage pits changed into a paved courtyard with a massive working stone. A radiocarbon sample from this layer gave a dating between 1120 and 900 BCE with 95.4% probability. In the northern and the southern squares, the architecture is densely agglomerated. At least four houses have been identified so far. One of them can be identified as a workshop. It was furnished with a bench along the wall and a large cylindrical, very carefully cut limestone workbench (60 cm in diameter). Very close to this stone, a semi-circular stone basin, two ‘industry pots’, a spindle whorl, and an egg-shaped tool of clay were found on the ashy floor. Late Hellenistic-Early Roman period During the Hellenistic-Early Roman period (4th century BCE–1st century CE) Area I was used but not inhabited. It was predominantly utilized for waste disposal facilities. Three large pits had also been dug and carefully lined out with stones for the storage of grain. Roman-Byzantine period The Roman-Byzantine period (2nd–7th century CE) is the uppermost stratum in Area I. Five houses of the Roman-Byzantine period can be distinguished, some of them with elaborate room arrangements. A stone-paved street following the contour line of the slope divided the buildings into a western and an eastern section. A thick wall of dressed stones constructed with stretchers and headers, which is visible halfway down the slope to the east of the tall, suggests that the settlement was fortified. In fact, it is possible that the fortification of such a densely inhabited settlement was necessary in the 3rd/4th century when the political situation in Palestine became unstable. Two coins from this stratum have been dated, one to the time of Hadrian (117–138 CE), the second to between 400 and 450 CE. Islamic period The 2001 survey of the tall showed that the settlement on the tall plateau during the Islamic period did not extend across the entire area. Habitation in this period is concentrated in specific places. These will be explored in future years, i.e., the area around the spring (Late Islamic period) and another area on the south-eastern plateau (Middle Islamic