Area A. A complex industrial winepress, damaged when the trenches were dug at the site, was exposed (Figs. 2, 3). The winepress included a large square treading floor, a distribution vat, two collecting vats and secondary surfaces. The treading floor (L119, L121; 6.5 ×  6.8 m, c. 44 sq m) was paved with a white mosaic (7–9 tesserae per sq dm) that was laid on a bedding of small stones, wadi pebbles and light gray lime-based mortar (L114; thickness c. 5–7 cm). The pit (L132) in the middle of the floor was apparently used for the stone base of a press screw, which had been robbed. A distribution vat (L125), installed to the west of the treading floor, was flanked on either side by collecting vats (L127, L131). The sides of the distribution vat were coated with reddish pink hydraulic plaster and its bottom was paved with mosaic (9–10 tesserae per sq dm). Only the northern part of the distribution vat was preserved; it seems that the vat was elliptical and its northern and southern sides were straight (Fig. 4). A perforated hole (length 0.2 m), through which the must flowed via a niche (L129 in the northern side) to the collecting vats, was installed in the middle of the northern and southern walls of the distribution vat. The octagonal collecting vats (length per side c. 1.3 m, depth 1.2 m, capacity c. 12 cu. m; Fig. 5) were coated with hydraulic plaster and paved with a mosaic (7–9 tesserae per sq dm). A circular sump (L134, L135; diam. 1.3 m, depth 0.9 m; Fig. 6), whose sides were slanted and coated with hydraulic plaster and its floor paved with a mosaic, was installed in the center of each of the collecting vats. A Gaza jar, whose upper part is missing, was exposed in the northern sump. A mosaic floor (L111, L113; 7–9 tesserae per sq dm) was exposed around the distribution vat and the collecting vats. It was enclosed on the west by a broad staircase wall (W14; width 1.8 m) with five steps running its entire length. Four secondary surfaces (L120, L128, L130, L136; 1.3 × 3.6 m, c. 4.7 sq m; Fig. 7) were discovered north and east of the treading floor. The surfaces were paved with a mosaic (10–12 tesserae per sq dm) that was laid on square fired mud bricks (0.25 × 0.40 m, thickness 4.0–4.5 cm), set on a bedding of small stones and wadi pebbles, mixed with light gray lime-based mortar (thickness 5–10 cm). The secondary surfaces were surrounded by walls that were built of small and medium fieldstones; the interior faces of the walls were coated with hydraulic plaster. The secondary surfaces were higher than the treading floor and sloped in its direction. A perforated hole (length 0.45 m) in the middle of the wall that separated it from the treading floor was exposed in each of the secondary surfaces. It seems that the winepress was surrounded by at least six secondary surfaces. A large amount of ceramic artifacts, fragments of glass vessels and a few animal bones (cattle, sheep and goat) were discovered in the collecting vats, in the fill above the treading floor and the secondary surfaces, and in the vicinity of the winepress. The ceramic finds were dated to the sixth–seventh centuries CE and included mostly fragments of cooking pots (Fig. 8:1, 2) and jars, among them Gaza jars (Fig. 8:3–5) and baggy-shaped jars (Fig. 8:6–9). The glass finds dated to the Byzantine period (fifth–seventh centuries CE) and included fragments of bowls, bottles and lamps and a small fragment of a base that belongs to a wine goblet.
 
Area B. A square was excavated c. 100 west of Area A and a light colored, fragmented habitation level was exposed in its southern part. It was set on a foundation of small stones, wadi pebbles and a few potsherds (thickness 0.1–0.2 m). Ceramic finds, including a jar from the sixth–seventh centuries CE (Fig. 8:10), and a few animal bones (cattle) were discovered above the habitation level.