Quarry 100 was hewn in soft chalk. Severance channels, rock-cut walls, the negatives of building stones and unfinished blocks of stone still attached to the bedrock were identified. Sherds of a jar (Fig. 4:3) from the quarry date to Iron II, whereas a jug (Fig. 4:4) and a juglet (Fig. 4:5) date to the Early Roman period.
 
The Winepress. The installation was rock-cut and consisted of a treading floor, a settling pit, a collecting vat and a storage complex, probably a wine cellar. The treading floor, which was square and plastered (L105; 2.7 × 2.8 m; Fig. 5), was hewn inside the quarry and severed it. The treading floor was mostly delineated by rock-cut bedrock walls (max. height 0.45 m) and a section of thick plaster construction (length 0.33 m, height 3.5 cm) in its southeastern corner. A niche (width 0.44 m, height 0.6 m, depth 0.3 m) intended for a beam installation was hewn in the southern wall. The northeastern end of the floor was slightly inclined. The plaster on the treading floor (thickness 0.1 m) was completely preserved on the surface itself and partly preserved on its eastern and western walls. The plaster, whose texture was hard and rough, contained white lime and numerous pale-yellow quartz inclusions. The must flowed from the treading floor to a square collecting vat that was hewn and plastered, located to the north (L115; 1.1 × 1.2 m, depth 1.3 m; Fig. 6). A step (length 0.53 m, width 5 cm) hewn in the northern wall (depth 0.1 m) provided access to the vat. A protuberance (width 0.17 m, height 0.13 m) was hewn in the eastern wall (at a depth of 0.2). The floor of the collecting vat sloped to the southwest, toward a round settling basin (diam. 0.6 m, depth 0.22 m). A negative of a round rock-cutting (diam. 0.26 m) could be discerned in the center of the vat. It was enclosed on the north by a layer of plaster (height 3 cm) that was preserved in its entirety throughout the vat and was of the same composition as the plaster on the treading floor. The ceramic finds from the vat date to Iron II: a bowl (Fig. 4:1) and a cooking pot (Fig. 4:2). The fill exposed in the vat contained a large, flat, roughly hewn piece of limestone (0.4 × 0.9 m, thickness 0.2 m; Fig. 7) that may have been used as a weight. A square rock-hewn settling pit (L117; 0.6 × 0.7 m, depth 0.15 m; Fig. 8) was uncovered in the northeastern corner of the treading floor. It walls were slanted and a settling basin (diam. 0.3 m, depth 9 cm) was hewn in its northwestern corner. Next to the eastern side of the settling pit was a rock-hewn wine cellar (L116; length 2.9 m, width 2.15 m, height 1.3–1.5 m; Fig. 9) that was entered by descending through a square opening (1.05 × 1.20 m, depth 1.25 m); its ceiling, walls and floor all sloped to the southeast. The floor was smooth and narrow (width 0.96–1.34 m) due to the incline of the walls. All of the ceramic artifacts date to Iron II and include bowls (Fig. 10:1–7), a krater (Fig. 10:8), cooking pots (Fig. 10:9, 10), jars (Fig. 10:11–14), jugs (Fig. 10:15–18), a juglet (Fig. 10:19) and a jar handle with a stamp of two concentric circles with a central depression (Figs. 10: 20; 11).
 
The rock-hewn shaft (L108; length 0.95 m, width 0.62 m, max. depth 1.13 m), which was unfinished, descendes to an opening facing south (length 0.3 m, width 0.46 m, depth 0.8 m; Fig. 12). A rock-cut step (width 0.42 m, depth 0.48 m) in the shaft’s northern wall descended from west to east. It seems that the shaft was meant to descende into a burial chamber. The direction of the shaft was the same as the hewn pits (below) and was similar in size. No datable finds were discovered.
 
Rock-hewn Pits. Six pits (L103, L104, L109, L111, L112, L120; Figs. 13–15) were exposed in addition to the two pits found in the trial excavation. All eight pits were rectangular and aligned in an east–west direction. All of the pits and Shaft 108 were similar in length (max. length 1.18 m) and width (max. width 0.75 m), but differed in depth (see Table 1). There were no datable finds. As their dimensions and shape were similar to those of Shaft 108, it can be assumed that the pits were intended for use as shafts whose quarrying was never completed. Bearing this in mind and judging by the number of shafts and their concentration within a rather small area, it seems that this area was intended to serve as a burial field. The location of the pits throughout the quarry indicates that they were hewn after the quarry went out of use.
 
Table 1. Dimension of the pits
 No.
Locus No.
Length (m)
Width (m)
Depth (m)
1
101
0.87
0.19–0.52
0.10–0.28
2
102
0.55–1.02
0.55
0.18–0.35
3
103
0.92
0.59–0.67
0.32–0.49
4
104
1.18
0.71–0.75
0.26–0.46
5
109
1.03–1.07
0.60–0.65
0.65–0.81
6
111
1.01
0.55
0.12–0.34
7
112
1.01
0.62
0.57–0.82
8
120
0.97
0.57–0.60
0.23–4.00


Rock-hewn Installations
Eight installations were exposed, four of which were rectangular (L106, L107, L114, L119; Table 2) and four elliptical (L110, L113, N, M; Table 3). The rectangular installations were identically oriented, and their longitudinal axis was aligned in a north–south direction. Two shallow channels connected Installations 113 and 114. The nature and date of their quarrying are unclear.
 
Table 2. Dimensions of hewn rectangular installations
No.
Locus No.
Length (m)
Width (m)
Depth (m)
1
106
0.44
0.26–0.32
0.15
2
107
0.81
0.19–0.24
0.23–7.00
3
114
0.96
0.27
0.30–0.40
4
119
0.66
0.33–0.35
0.15–3.00
 
 
Table 3. Dimensions of elliptical installations
No.
Locus No.
Diameter (m)
Depth (m)
1
110
0.29 × 0.40
0.17–1.00
2
113
0.62 × 0.70
0.49–0.62
3
M
0.14 × 0.17
1.00–6.00
4
M
0.16
1.00–4.00
 
A rock-hewn enclosure (L118; width 2 m, max. height 1 m; Fig. 16) was exposed at the eastern end of the excavation area. Three walls delimited the installation on the south, east and west. The southern wall (height 0.93 m) was higher than the other walls, and its eastern half was different than its western half: the former was deep (0.22 m) and round on top, whereas the latter was straight. The eastern wall (length 0.2 m, height 0.65 m) and western wall (length 0.87 m, height 0.34–0.60 m) sloped to the north. The installation had a straight bedrock floor (length 2.05 m, width 1.8 m). Both the nature of the enclosure and the time when it was hewn are undetermined.
 
The earliest activity at the site is ascribed to the stone quarry. In the second phase, probably in Iron II, the quarry was canceled and the winepress and wine cellar were hewn. At some point, a burial field consisting of a series of unfinished rock-cut shafts was also hewn within the quarry. It was not possible to determine the stratigraphic relationship between the winepress and the burial field and it is impossible to date the burial field due to lack of dating findings.