The excavations at Hammeh are part of the Deir 'Alla Regional Project, a joint undertaking of Yarmouk University in Irbid, Jordan, and Leiden University in the Netherlands, in collaboration with the Jordanian Department of Antiquities.
The site's most intriguing feature is the presence of a substantial and very early iron smelting operation, as evidence by large quantities of slag, technical ceramics, furnace remnants etc. This activity dates to 930 BC.
Fieldwork at Tell Hammeh took place in 1996, 1997, and 2000. The first two (rescue) seasons were directed by Dr E.J. van der Steen; the third season was directed by Dr H.A. Veldhuijzen. A fourth season, planned in 2003, had to be abandoned due to the invasion of Iraq. As with the third season, the focus of new excavation would primarily be on the iron smelting evidence. A new excavation was to start in May 2009.