Two squares, oriented north–south and located 6 m apart, were excavated (Fig. 1). A wall (W110; width 0.6 m), built of fieldstones (0.2 × 0.2 m) and preserved a single course high, was discovered in the northeastern corner of the northern square. A stone pavement (L106; 0.10 × 0.15 m), laid on a bedding of gray bonding material, abutted the wall. Fragments of pottery vessels, mostly dating to the Mamluk period (Fig. 2:1–8, 14, 15, 17) and a few from the beginning of the Ottoman period (Fig. 2:9–13, 16, 18–21), were revealed on the floor, including glazed bowls (Fig. 2:1, 2), some of them with sgrafitto decoration (Fig. 2:3, 4), plain bowls (Fig. 2:5–12), cooking pots (Fig. 2:13), jugs (Fig. 2:17, 18), lids (Fig. 2:20, 21), storage jars (Fig. 2:14, 16), an amphora (Fig. 2:15) and lamps (Fig. 2:19), as well as animal bones of sheep/goat and cattle.

 

A vault (W108) built of fieldstones (0.15 × 0.30 m) with no bonding material was exposed in the southern square. A pillar (W109; 0.75 × 1.00 m) built of fieldstones (0.2 × 0.3 m) severed the western corner of the vault, wherein a layer of fill (thickness c. 1 m) that included animal bones was found; it was superimposed with a layer of bonding material (thickness c. 0.3 m). The fill dated to the Ottoman period, based on the ceramic finds (Fig. 3). It seems that at least one other story was originally built on top of the vault.

 

A wall (W111) built of ashlars (0.25 × 0.40 m) with bonding material and preserved three courses high was discerned in the western section of both squares. Wall 111 was constructed differently and should be ascribed to a later, probably the Ottoman period.