During July–August 2001 a winepress next to Qibbuz Yir’on was cleaned (License No. G-61/01; map ref. NIG 2430/7753; OIG 1930/2753). The cleaning, on behalf of the Antiquities Authority, was directed by R. Frankel, assisted by N. Getzov (drafting) and members of Qibbuz Yir’on.
The winepress (Fig. 1) is located on a southern slope; its northern part is hewn in bedrock. The square treading floor (c. 3.80 × 3.85 m; c. 15 sq m) is paved with a coarse white mosaic (average size of tesserae 2.5 × 2.5 cm). The northern part of the floor rests on bedrock and the southern part, little of which is preserved, on fill. The surface slopes (a difference of 0.3 m across 6 m from the northern to the southern corners); to its west are two circular vats––a settling vat and a collecting vat, to its west. The walls of the settling vat (diam. 0.6 m, depth c. 0.7 m, volume 0.2 cu m) are coated with plaster and its floor is paved with a mosaic. The collecting vat (diam. 2.1 m, depth c. 1.4 m, volume c. 4 cu m) is plastered (thickness of plaster 0.1 m) and its mosaic-paved floor is set on a fill layer. The remains of three built steps (height 0.25–0.40 m, depth 0.25–0.40 m) are preserved on its western side. A circular, non-plastered pit (diam. 0.66 m, depth 0.29 m) is located at the eastern end of the collecting vat's floor and close to the wall; it was cut into the fill below the mosaic the mosaic floor of the collecting vat. Collecting vats are frequently equipped with depressions that facilitate removing the last drops of the must from the vat. This was probably the purpose of the small pit or it could have been the beginning of a rock cutting that was never completed.
Another winepress and the entrance of a burial cave were discerned near the winepress. The additional winepress has a square treading floor and circular collecting vat, wherein a bell-shaped water cistern was hewn in a later period.