Stone Collapse (1)

A square (2.5 × 4.5 m), revealing a stone collapse, was excavated.

 

Stone Clearance Heaps (2–5, 7)

Probe sections were excavated in the stone clearance heaps to determine their dimensions:

Heap Diameter (m) Height (m)
2 7.5 0.5
3 3.5 0.4
4 5.5 0.65
5 7.2 0.6
7 12 1.3

On the highest part of Heap 7 an agricultural terrace wall (length 14 m, preserved height 0.4 m), preserved two courses high, was built.

 

Field Tower (6)

A square field tower (3.1 × 3.1; Figs. 2, 3) built on an elevated bedrock outcrop was excavated. Its entrance (width 0.9 m) was set in the southern wall. Two courses built of large fieldstones (height 0.9–1.1 m) were preserved of the tower’s exterior walls. A hewn channel (length 5.1 m, width 10 cm, depth 5 cm) in the floor of the tower extended outside of it. Fragments of Hellenistic jars (Fig. 5:1, 2) that dated to the Hasmonean period and fragments of a jar (Fig. 5:3) and a jug (Fig. 5:4) that dated to the first century CE were found. On the tower’s floor was a fragment of a round thin stone, which had been worked and was perforated with three holes; it may have been used as a jar stopper or a loom weight (Fig. 5:5).  

 

Ancient Road (8)

An ancient road was exposed on the slope (width 2.5–3.5 m). It was delimited by a fieldstone curb founded on bedrock (width 1 m). A soil accumulation (thickness 0.4 m) was observed in two probe trenches that were excavated across the width of the road (Fig. 4).

 

Building (9)

A building constructed from dressed stones (c. 4.5 × 4.5 m; preserved height 1.4 m) was surveyed.