El-Qubab was the site of a village until 1948; the Lehi Forrest covers today part of the site. Guerin (1868:56–59) noted that it lay at a distance of about two hours walk from Ramla and less than an hour’s walk from Latrun. Past excavations at the site (En Gedi 2006 [Fig. 1: A-3361]; Glick 2006 [Fig. 1: A-3305]; Lupu 2010 [Fig. 1: A-4871]; Haiman 2014 [Fig. 1: A-5261]; Shachar 2019 [Fig. 1: A-7699]) yielded a burial cave from the Second Temple period; two cisterns from the Roman period; remains of walls from the Byzantine period; a cist tomb and another cistern, from the Roman or Byzantine period; as well as a field wall and settlement remains from the Ottoman period. Sherds from the Early Islamic and Mamluk periods were also discovered.
 

The excavation was situated near the western boundary of the site, on the eastern slopes of a hill, c. 500 m northwest of the previous excavation. Two squares were opened, revealing scant remains of two walls running in a genera northeast–southwest direction (W105—length c. 6 m, width 0.8 m; W106—length c. 3 m, max. width 1.1 m; Figs. 2, 3). The walls, which were built of fieldstone (c. 0.4 × 0.5 m) and preserved one-two courses high, were about 1 m apart and belonged to one or two structures. The damaged remains of two floors were identified on either side of W105: a packed-earth floor to its southeast (L103) and a floor made of small stones to its northwest (L104). No earlier architectural remains were identified in three probes dug under these floors. The few potsherds found in the excavation (not drawn) date from the Iron Age II and the Early Roman period.

As pervious excavations uncovered remains from the Early Roman period, this seems to be the date of the uncovered remains. The pottery from the Iron Age II may indicate the existence of a nearby settlement of this period yet to be discovered.