Quarries and Rock-cuttings. The quarries (Table 1) were discovered in a layer of hard nari. Separating channels were discerned and the dimensions of the hewn stones in each quarry could be estimated. The purpose of the rock-cuttings (Table 2) is not entirely clear.
 
Table 1. Quarries.
L. No.
Quarry Dimensions (m)
Width of Separating Channels (m)
Stone Dimensions (m)
Pottery Finds
(P – predominant)
1
4.0×4.2
0.15
0.3–0.4×0.6×1.0
Roman
2
2.0×4.5
0.12
0.35×0.60×1.00
Roman
3
3×9
0.1
 
Roman (P); Early Bronze (bowl—Fig. 3:1)
4 (Fig. 4)
5.5×8.0
0.15–0.20
0.4×0.7–0.8
Early Bronze I (holemouth—Fig. 3:4); Early Bronze III (Platter—Fig. 3:5);
Middle Roman (open cooking pot—Fig. 3:13); Byzantine (bowl—Fig. 3:37)
5
3×4
0.15
 
Roman; Late Bronze (bowl, with wishbone handle—Fig. 3:6)
6
7.0×8.5
0.15
0.3×0.7
Roman (open cooking pot—Fig. 3:16, two closed cooking pots—Fig. 3:18, 22, jar—Fig. 3:30); tesserae were also discovered
7
5×5
 
0.25×0.50
Persian (mortarium base—Fig. 3:8); Roman (closed cooking pot—Fig. 3:24)
9
1×1
 
 
 
10
4.0×4.2
0.12–0.15
0.3×0.6–0.8
Roman
13
2.7×5.0
0.10–0.13
0.3×0.7
Roman
14
13.7
0.10–0.12
0.2–0.3×0.8–1.0
Roman
16 (Fig. 5)
7.5×11.0
0.15
0.3×0.3–0.5×0.7–1.0
Roman
17
4.6×7.4
0.1
0.3×0.6–0.7×1.0
Roman (P; krater, Late Roman period—Fig. 3:10)
18
5.1×6.0
 
Height 0.25
Roman
19
9.1
0.2
Height 0.3
 
20
2.8×3.5
 
0.4×0.5×0.5
Middle Roman (P; jar—Fig. 3:33)
23
4.5×7.1
0.1
0.3×0.4–0.6×0.8–0.9
Roman
27
5.8×6.0
0.1–0.2
0.2–0.3×0.6×1.2–1.6
Middle Roman (open cooking pot—Fig. 3:14)
29
10
0.1
0.4–0.7×0.6–0.8×0.8–1.0
Roman
36
5.3×6.4
0.10–0.15
0.4×0.6×0.7–0.9
Roman
49
9.4
0.15–0.20
0.25–0.30×0.60×0.70
 
50
2×7
0.1
0.4×0.5×0.9–1.1
 
 
Table 2. Rock-cuttings.
L. No.
Dimensions
(m)
Description
Pottery
8
Diam. 1.5, height 1.9
 
Rock-hewn cave with opening in the north. Two steps lead down to the cave, one is hewn and the other is a dressed stone placed on the floor of the cave. Two square niches (0.4×0.4 m, 0.5×0.7 m) were hewn in the bottom of the cave
Roman–Byzantine (?)
11
Diam. 0.65, depth 0.45
 
A shallow round depression hewn in the bedrock, c. 4 m south of Quarry 8
 
15
(Fig. 6)
2.1×5.2
Rock-cutting that includes two square pools, one large (3.1×3.2 m, depth 0.75 m) and the other to its north is smaller (1.50×1.75 m, depth 1.6 m). Three rock-cut steps lead to the bottom of the small pool. The proportions of the two pools resemble a plan for a winepress; however, no conduit for transferring liquid was discovered in the bedrock wall that separated the pools. This rock-cutting might be either a winepress that was not completed or an installation for some other use.
Roman
24
 
A low natural underground cavity with two openings in the north and west. There are signs of rock-cuttings in both openings. A courtyard (1.8×3.8 m) was hewn in the front of the northern opening.
Byzantine (sixth century CE; bowl —Fig. 3:36)
 
Rock-hewn Winepress (Fig. 7). An extensive treading floor (5.1×6.0 m) hewn in the bedrock was exposed inside Quarry 18. It sloped to the west and had vertical bedrock walls (height c. 0.25 m). Four cupmarks were hewn in the surface and five additional cupmarks were hewn outside of it (average diam. 0.18 m; average depth 0.2 m). A hewn vat (1.4×2.8 m, depth 0.15–0.40 m) was exposed inside Quarry 20 and a natural bedrock surface (2.1×2.2 m) was revealed west of it. It seems that the large treading floor and the vat to its west composed a hewn winepress. It is also possible that the winepress’ components were the natural bedrock surface and the vat adjacent to it, whereas the large surface with vertical sides might have been the floor of a building and not a treading floor of a winepress.
 
Road. A road (L25; width 4 m; Fig. 8), generally aligned north–south and built of small fieldstones, was exposed. A section of plaster (width 0.45 m) was exposed in the center of the road, which was delimited by two walls (W28, W51). Wall 28 (exposed length 25 m) was built of large partially dressed fieldstones combined with small and medium fieldstones; the dressed surface of the stone faced the road. It was preserved a single course high (0.45 m). Only the top of W51, built of medium-sized stones that were unevenly arranged, was exposed. The retaining walls were meant to prevent damage to the road caused by alluvium. Retaining walls that were meticulously built on one side are characteristic of Roman roads. The ceramic finds from the excavation of the road included a cooking pot from the Late Bronze Age (Fig. 3:7), a jar from the Hellenistic period (Fig. 3:9), numerous fragments of vessels from the Middle Roman period, including an open cooking pot (3:15), closed cooking pots (Fig. 3:17, 19, 21, 23), a lid (Fig. 3:25) and jars (Fig. 3:26, 27, 31, 32, 34), as well as a krater (Fig. 3:11) and mortarium (Fig. 3:12) from the Late Roman period.
 
Tombs. A shaft tomb (L43) hewn inside Quarry 23 and a round burial cave (L22) were discovered. The shaft tomb, hewn in a general east–west direction (1.05×2.40 m, depth 3 m; Fig. 9) had remains of steps in its northern and western sides, leading to the burial chamber. A hewn protuberance (0.24×0.24 m) was exposed in the middle of the western side and a circumferential ledge for placing the stone covering slabs was uncovered at a depth of 1.8 m; one covering stone was discovered in situ and several others were dispersed, not in situ. Four simple glass candlesticks (Fig. 10) with an unevenly and carelessly folded rim, a small triangular body and a small scar on the base, dating to the first and early second centuries CE, were discovered inside the shaft, as well as a jar fragment from the Middle Roman period (Fig. 3:29). Similar shafts located 0.8 m away were surveyed in the past (Y. Tepper, pers. comm.).
Prior to the excavation in Cave 22, its ceiling was removed with the aid of mechanical equipment due to its unstable condition. It seems that the opening was set in the western side of the cave and there was probably another opening in its northern side (Figs. 11, 12). Five burial troughs (L41, L42, L44–L46; 0.63–0.80×1.95–2.10 m, depth 0.15–0.45 m; they were not excavated) were discovered in the cave (diam. 5 m). Four of them were aligned east–west and one—north–south. Signs of quarrying visible just west of Trough 42 were not checked. Five dressed stone slabs that were used to cover the troughs were discerned in four of them. A stone ossuary without a lid (0.31×0.62 m, wall thickness 5–8 cm; Fig. 13) and filled with soil was discovered at the western end of Trough 44. The ceramic artifacts from the cave included two gray-burnished bowls from Early Bronze Age I (Fig. 3:2, 3), a juglet with a two-strand handle from the Middle Bronze Age (not drawn), a closed cooking pot (Fig. 3:20), a jar (Fig. 3:28) and a discus lamp (Fig. 3:35), dating to the Roman period and discovered above the covering of Trough 45, as well as an open cooking pot (Fig. 3:38) from the Abbasid period. It seems the cave was first used in the Early Bronze Age and following a very long gap, was reused in the Roman period.
 
Ceramic finds dating to the Early, Middle and Late Bronze Ages were discovered in the excavation. The main ceramic repertoire dates to the Middle Roman period (late second to late third/early fourth centuries CE), and it therefore seems that most of the activity at the site occurred during this period. Apparently, the quarries, installations, road and tombs were used by the inhabitants of Kefar Otnay, which existed in the area during the Roman period, or the soldiers of the Sixth Legion who were garrisoned nearby from the early second century CE.