A rectangular cistern, oriented east–west, was excavated (4.75×8.70 m, max. depth 5.2 m; volume c. 200 cu. m). It was built in a hollow hewn in the bedrock and found filled with refuse. The installation’s ceiling was vaulted and built of stone; only the lower part of the vault was preserved. The entire cistern was coated with a thick layer of gray plaster, probably modern, and no repairs to it were discerned. The bottom of the cistern slanted gently to the west. The upper part of the cistern’s eastern wall (width 0.8 m), which was built of partially hewn stones, was exposed next to the bedrock. It is not known if the eastern wall was entirely built of stone; it is possible that the lower part of the wall was not built of stone and the plaster was applied directly to the bedrock surface. Remains of a built channel that led to the west were noted at the top of the cistern’s western wall, next to the top of the vault. The cistern’s western wall was constructed right below the eastern wall of Pelekh School, and it seems they were built as a single complex. The contact line between the cistern and the school building was not excavated for safety reasons. Remains of a shallow settling pit (1×1 m), whose walls were built of a single row of unevenly arranged stones (preserved height 0.15 m), were discovered next to the outside of the cistern’s eastern wall; the stone walls were coated with a thick layer of light gray plaster that was different from that in the cistern. The eastern wall of the settling pit was not preserved. No other ancient remains were discovered in the excavation area.
The cistern was probably constructed together with the Pelekh School. The earliest structures in the neighborhood were built in the 1920s (D. Kroyanker. 1985. Jerusalem Architecture: Arab Construction Outside the Old City Wallstherefore seems that the schoolhouse and the cistern are no more than one hundred years old.. Jerusalem [Hebrew]) and it therefore seems that the schoolhouse and the cistern are no more than one hundred years old.