During June 2007, a salvage excavation was conducted in the Ramat Bet Ha-Kerem neighborhood of Jerusalem (Permit No. A- 5157; map ref. NIG 21827/63060; OIG 16827/13060), prior to paving a street. The excavation, on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, was directed by A. Nagar, with the assistance of Y. Ohayon (administration), M. Kunin (surveying and drafting), T. Sagiv (field photography), E. Belashov (drafting), and R. Bar-Natan (pottery reading).
One square was excavated south of and near Moshe Kol Street, on the slope of a spur that descends to the south toward Nahal Raqqafot. The bottom part of a round cistern (2.30 × 2.85 m, preserved depth 1.35 m; Figs. 1, 2), hewn in limestone bedrock, was exposed. The floor of the cistern descended to the west. A circular settling pit (diam. 0.4 m, depth 7 cm) was hewn along the northwestern side of the cistern’s bottom. The cistern was coated with a single layer of light gray plaster (max. thickness 7 cm on sides, 9 cm on bottom) mixed with gravel. The cistern was intentionally filled with many pieces of various sized flint and potsherds that mostly dated to the Early Roman period, including a goblet (Fig. 3:2), cooking pots (Fig. 3:3, 4), an amphora (Fig. 3:5), jars (Fig. 3:6–9) and a jug (Fig. 3:10). A single fragment of an Iron Age amphoriskos base (Fig. 3:1) was discovered on the bottom of the cistern, which was dated to the Early Roman period based on the plaster and the ceramic finds. The cistern was probably connected to a settlement in the vicinity. Remains dating to the Second Temple period had been discovered in a previously conducted survey, c. 120 m northeast of the excavation (A. Kloner, 2001, Survey of Jerusalem, The Northwestern Sector, p. 168).