The Second World War stopped almost all excavation in Palestine, and the postwar situation did not permit the speedy recovery of archaeological enterprises in the Near East. The disintegration of the British Mandate in 1947–48 and the prolonged war halted foreign archaeological fieldwork in Palestine. Furthermore, most of the active archaeological institutions remained in East Jerusalem, so there were no foreign expeditions to Israel for a few years.

In March 1949 the Finnish scholar Aepeli Saarisalo (cf. Junkaala 1998), undeterred by the war, appeared in the offices of the IDAM and asked for permission to continue his survey of western Galilee. Not really ready for such a request, the IDAM suggested that he postpone the idea for several months, because of the danger of “Arab mines and of Arab militia groups from the rescue army of Qawuqji” (GL44864/14 no. 11).

The first foreign scholar to resume evacuations in Israel was René Neuville at Qiryat el-‘Anab (Kiryat Anavim) near Jerusalem in 1950. It was a small-scale project and he did not receive even an official excavation licence. Neuville, who died in 1952, was Consul General of France in Jerusalem (IEJ2(4) (1952): 255). In 1950, Jean Perrot excavated at Abu-Ghosh near Jerusalem and Gush Halav in Galilee. From 1952 the American School of Oriental Research initiated a fellowship in Israel (Alon4 (1953): 3).