In April–May 2014 a salvage excavation was conducted in Ramat Bet Shemesh C2 (Permit No. A-7115; map ref 199366-76/623652-60, Fig. 1). The excavation, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and financed by the Ministry of Construction and Housing, was directed by A. Eirikh-Rose (photography) and A. Paz, with the assistance of A. Hajian and M. Kunin (surveying and drafting), A. Lidsky-Reznikov (pottery drawing) and S. Gendler.
The cistern (excavated depth c. 3 m; Figs. 2–4) was rock-hewn and its opening was irregular; it appears as though the quarrymen utilized a natural fissure in the bedrock. The cistern included a short shaft (depth 0.7 m) that led to an irregular shaped cavity (c. 4 × 5 m). The walls of the cistern were treated with gray plaster. The cistern was filled to the top with alluvium containing jars (Fig. 5:1, 2) from the Hellenistic period, cooking pots (Fig. 5:3, 4) from the Roman period and a bowl (Fig. 5:5), kraters (Fig. 5:6, 7), cooking pots (Fig. 5:8) and a jar (Fig. 5:9) from the Byzantine period.
The winepress (Figs 6, 7) consisted of a treading floor (L200; 2.6 × 3.2 m) and a collecting vat (L201; 1 × 2 m, depth 0.7 m; Fig. 8), both of which were rectangular and connected by way of a short channel. The floor was carelessly hewn and slanted gently to the collecting vat in the east; the northern part of the floor was not preserved. Pottery sherds from the Roman period were found in the alluvium overlying the winepress, and sherds ascribed to the Iron Age were discovered on the bottom of the collecting vat.
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