A team of Palestinian and Italian archaeologists discovered a burial ground underneath 3 hectacres of Bethlehem's Khalet al-Jam'a dig site in March 2016. The necropolis was estimated to be 4,200 years old, confirming for the first time that a city had existed in that space during Canaanite times. Graves exist at the site that are more than 4,200 years old, but these do not have Israelite marks or inscriptions. The existence of a Canaanite town in Bethlehem had never before been proven, according to the head of the excavation.
The earliest graves unearthed at the site date back to the Intermediate Bronze Age, and showed that the residents of the town were farmers and pastoralists. Bowls, jars, lamps, daggers, and axes are just some of the items discovered at and removed from the burial sites. The burial ground has more than 100 tombs, some of which had been looted or damaged in the past.