In June 2013, an excavation was conducted at Horbat Dagesh, northwest of Kibbutz Shomeriyya (Permit No. A-6891; map ref. 189035–135/593530–615), as part of an educational activity. The excavation, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and financed by the southern district of the Karev Foundation and the Azmona Community at Kibbutz Shomeriyya, was directed by Y. Haimi, with the assistance of the Y. Al-ʽAmor (administration) and V. Essman and Y. Shmidov (surveying and drafting). Pupils from the Azmona Talmud Torah and the Azmona Girls School participated in the excavation.
The winepress consisted of a treading floor (L1; 2.3 × 2.8 m; Figs. 2, 3) and a settling pit into which the must flowed (L2; 0.6 × 0.6 m, depth 0.4 m; Fig. 4) situated to the northwest of the floor. A channel discovered in the northwestern wall of the settling pit conveyed the clean must to a rock-hewn collecting vat (L3; 1.0 × 1.6 m, depth 1.2 m; Fig. 5). Large, collapsed stones, some of which were dressed, were found inside the collecting vat, along with soil and several poorly preserved, non-diagnostic pottery sherds. A rock-cut opening (diam. 1 m; Fig. 6) set in the southeastern wall of the collecting vat probably led into a cave. A bedrock surface with 19 cupmarks of various sizes (L6; Fig. 7) was exposed north of the collecting vat. A field wall that apparently separated between cultivation plots was situated outside the excavation area.
The winepress exposed in the excavation was in use during the Byzantine period and probably went out of use in the Early Islamic period; several pottery sherds from the latter period were found on the surface.