During November 2006, an excavation was conducted along the southern bank of Nahal Samtar, where the Vered Quarry is slated to be enlarged (Permit No. A-4937; map ref. NIG 205923–6083/709275–372; OIG 155923–6083/209275–372), in the wake of discovering antiquities during development work. The excavation, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and underwritten by the Vered Quarry Ltd., was directed by M. Masarwa, with the assistance of S. Ya‘aqov-Jam (administration), V. Essman (surveying), T. Sagiv (field photography), A. Oshri (preliminary inspections) and N. Zak (drafting).
A partly destroyed, rectangular-like building (L500; 8.5 × 11.0 m; Figs. 1, 2) was exposed at the western end of the area. The slightly curved walls (width 1.0–1.2 m) were founded on bedrock and delimited a bedrock surface that sloped to the north. The walls, built of two rows of fieldstones and a core of small stones and brown earth, were preserved one–three courses high. A gap (width 1.8 m) that may have been the entrance to the structure was exposed in the center of the western wall. It can reasonably be assumed that the structure was used as a pen for sheep and goats.
Two terrace walls (length 3–4 m), built of fieldstones and incorporated in bedrock, were identified east of the building (c. 20 and c. 40 m away). Probes were excavated to the bottom of the walls but no potsherds or other artifacts that could aid in dating them were discovered.