[1][2] The archaeological site of Tel Michal covers five hills on the ridge running along the coast, which are composed of lithified wind-blown sediments, an eolianite known locally as kurkar.

[1][2][3] Stratum XVII of the excavations of Tel Michal reveals that the site was first settled at the end of the Middle Bronze Age IIB (1800/1750–1550 BCE[4]).

The first settlers built a 4-m-high raised platform made of alternating layers of red clay and sand on the tel's high mound.

The site covered approximately one-half to three quarters of an acre at the time, finds from which included local pottery, Cypriot imports, Hyksos scarabs and Egyptian alabaster vessels.

During this period in the site's habitation, a small fort, commanding the approach from the coast to the ridge, was constructed on the north side of the mound.

Although the new inhabitants expanded the earlier rampart and added a retaining wall at its base, the site remained largely unchanged until the 14th or early 13th centuries BCE when it was again abandoned, perhaps as the result of a decline in international commerce.

The room on the eastern hillock featured a square eolianite base that may have served as an altar or an offering table, while four chalices and additional vessels were recovered nearby.

Stratum XI, dated to the late 6th century BCE and early 5th, shows the site was again serving as a way station and trading post.

Though they would change in character in subsequent phases, structures on the northern edge of the mound would continue to serve as military and administrative headquarters throughout the Persian period.

By the final phase of the Persian period, the high mound also displays a functional division, with its northern edge occupied by a fort, the center by dwellings, and the southern part mostly empty save for a number of silos.

Ze'ev Harzog noted the striking resemblance of this assemblage to similar finds from Kamid el-Loz in Lebanon, also dated to the 4th century BCE.

[1] The settlement at Tel Michal was not destroyed during the region's conquest by Alexander the Great, ushering the Hellenistic period, though it appears to have been abandoned by the end of the 4th century BCE.

Coins recovered at the site come from the reign of prefects Marcus Ambibulus, Valerius Gratus, Pontius Pilate and King Agrippa I, dating the fortress to 10 – 50 CE.

[1] The final phase of habitation at Tel Michal, stratum I, features a small watchtower built on top of the high mound.

Built on a foundation of concrete and stone blocks, the tower was probably part of an early warning network against enemy ships mentioned by Arab geographer Al-Muqaddasi.

Between 1958 and 1960, archaeologist Nahman Avigad conducted a salvage excavation at the northern hill on behalf of the Eretz Israel Museum and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

[3] Tel Michal was excavated again during four seasons from 1977 to 1980 under Ze'ev Herzog and James Muhly, as part of a regional project to explore the western Yarkon River basin.

[5] Zeev Herzog conducted another salvage excavation at the site in 1982 after tractors uncovered remains of plastered structures east of the high mound, revealing four Iron Age wine presses.