Yitzhak Magen conducted archaeological excavations from 1992–2003.[3] On the southeastern slope is a 4-acre (16,000 m2) urban settlement dating back to the 8th-7th centuries BCE, and remnants that Magen believed to be the Mizpah in Benjamin of the Book of Samuel.[4] By contrast, Jeffrey Zorn concluded that there are no remains at the site, from the period in which the Samuel narratives are set, and it could therefore not be Mizpah.[5] Magen's own conclusions have been criticised for stretching the evidence beyond the obvious implications, which he himself hints at: