 The prehistoric site was discovered in May 1959 near the tell, south of the Yavne'el stream (Wadi Fidjdjas), by a member of Kibbutz Afikim who was preparing the ground for agriculture.Excavations at the site began in 1960, led by Moshe Stekelis, assisted by zoologist Georg Haas, geologists Leo Picard and Nachman Shulman and several archaeology students, including Ofer Bar-Yosef and Naama Goren-Inbar.After Stekelis' death in 1967, Bar-Yosef and Goren-Inbar conducted the excavations.