[3] Its geographical location endowed it with a position of importance at the crossroads of land-based trade routes between the Canaan region, the Old Kingdom of Egypt,[4] and Arabia.

[2] The tell covered an estimated area of 8–9 hectares (20–22 acres), of which 1,400 square metres (15,000 sq ft) has undergone archaeological excavation.

In the Bronze Age Tell es-Sakan was near the Mediterranean coast and apparently possessed a harbour on Wadi Ghazzeh's now silted-up estuary.

[2] Excavations revealed that the site was occupied during two distinct major phases: the lower levels of excavation area A belong to a city of the Egyptian Protodynastic Period, which corresponds to the Early Bronze Age IB period in the history of the Southern Levant (the end of the 4th millennium BCE); and the middle and upper levels of Areas B and C belong to a Canaanite settlement dating to the third millennium.

[2] The Bronze Age port dates to the end of the 4th millennium BCE, and was contemporary with En Besor, an Egyptian First Dynasty staging post along the "Ways of Horus" trade route in the Northern Negev.

[2] This was interpreted as proof for the importance of the settlement, which may have been the administrative centre of the colonial domain established by the Egyptians in southwestern Palestine[2] during the Early Dynastic Period.

[10][note 1] There are indications that this part of the occupation at the site ended at the beginning of the First Dynasty of Egypt, perhaps under the reign of one of the successors of Narmer, such as Hor-Aha or Den.

[citation needed] This Canaanite settlement is dated solely to the Early Bronze period, when the major sites of southwestern Canaan reached their greatest prosperity.

[14][15] Pierre de Miroschedji hypothesised that a change in the course of the Wadi Ghazzeh led to the abandonment of Tell es-Sakan in favour of Tell el-Ajjul.

[16] Another site further south, at Deir al-Balah, was occupied during the 14th–12th centuries BCE, the time of the Egyptian New Kingdom (Late Bronze Age).

On its inception the department had limited resources and few experienced staff, but with international collaboration in the space of fifteen years it had overseen 500 investigations in Palestine.

[23] The planned building's foundation trenches exposed archaeological deposits, but caused significant damage to the site in the process.

[1][25] Archaeologists Pierre de Miroschedji and Moain Sadeq led a three-week rescue excavation at Tell es-Sakan in September 1999.

[28] A selection of finds from Tell es-Sakan was included in an exhibition titled "Mediterranean Gaza" at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris in 2000.

[4] Investigations by the Gaza Research Project at the nearby Bronze Age site of al-Moghraqa, which had been discovered by Sadeq in 1996, were also abandoned.

[4] In August 2017 Hamas authorities began levelling the site with bulldozers, intending to use the land to compensate some of its senior employees.

This led to protests and disagreements between the Land Authority, which was in favour of the development, and the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities which was opposed to the work.

The survey identified surviving features that had been exposed on the site, and material culture including pottery, flints, and stone tools.