A 7,000-year-old Early Chalcolithic large village already showing signs of incipient urbanisation and with an open space used for cultic activities was discovered at the site below later, Bronze Age remains.

A major excavation between 2017 and 2019 ahead of the construction of a highway interchange exposed the city's houses, streets and public structures, as well as countless artifacts including pottery, figurines and tools.

He recalled the opinion of German scholar Albrecht Alt that Tel Esur is the site of an ancient city called "Yaham", located just north of the Menashe Heights and mentioned in the sources of the 15th-century BCE Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose III, who campaigned against a coalition of Canaanite city-states led by the king of Kadesh and gave battle at Megiddo.

Albright stated that the location of the site corresponds with the geographic descriptions of the Egyptian sources, and his discovery of Bronze Age pottery while surveying the mound further confirmed this identification in his opinion.

[8] Today however, Yaham is identified with a site located at the Arab village of Kafr Yama, since 1988 part of Zemer, some 10 kilometers south of Tel Esur.

[5] 'En Esur stands in the northern Sharon plain, c. 1 km east of Moshav Ein Iron, at the outlet of Wadi Ara,[1] a valley which allowed the ancient international coastal highway to bypass the difficult section squeezed between the sea and western Mount Carmel by passing through the mountain.

[4] It was found to contain numerous articulated sheep, cattle and pig bones, showing that animal parts had been buried in this open area during ritual ceremonies.

[4] The entire space between the two findings, set at the margin of the settlement, was likely kept open for cultic activity and other functions, although it cannot be ruled out that some mud-brick buildings had stood there without leaving any discernible remains.

[29] Archaeologists found pottery originating in the Jordan Valley,[23] and sealed imprints[clarification needed] on tools demonstrate that these were brought from Egypt.

[26] Several figurines were also unearthed inside the temple, including a human head and a seal impression showing a cultic scene with person in a supplicant position and raising his hands with a horned animal next to him.

[35] In excavations led by S. Bar in 2010–2014 on the western slopes of the small mound (Area D), a large public structure from the early 8th century BCE (Iron Age IIB) came to light.

[2] The fortified tower abutted by a storehouse was interpreted as being part of a regional administrative centre, due to similarities with other contemporary public complexes.

[2] However, Tel 'Esur is unique in being the only small, countryside settlement, rather than large royal Iron Age estate or city, such as Hazor or Megiddo, where the state or king built an administrative centre.

[2] The architectural complex shows enough sophistication to vouch for it being a royal or state-run project, in spite of its size of less than 0.5 ha, which would otherwise be characteristic of a hamlet or farmstead.

[2] The tower measures c. 13 by 13 metres, with thick outer walls indicative of a considerable height and a certain martial look, although its location at the foot of the mound and the comparatively modest size exclude a military purpose.

[2] The entire structure is more likely to have had a mixed role, both practical and political as a built statement of royal power and control over the newly acquired territory.

[2] The long, tripartite building adjoining the tower was most probably a warehouse where local produce or different commodities were collected, although some researchers see in such structures stables, barracks, or marketplaces.

[2] Its large size and internal separation through solid walls, rather than columns, indicatess that the even larger such structure found at Hazor had served as its prototype.

[2] A possible cause might have been Israel's deteriorating relations with Assyria, with the nearby Israelite city of Dor being another example of early abandonment, rather than the more common case of settlements evacuated out of fear during the actual approach of the Assyrian army, or the many destroyed by it.