During November 2001 a trial excavation was conducted in Lot 238 in the west of Modi‘in (Permit No. A-3528*; map ref. NIG 20012–15/64335–49; OIG 15012–15/14335–49). The excavation, on behalf of the Antiquities Authority and financed by the Ministry of Construction and Housing, was directed by T. Kanias, with the assistance of I. Rahamim (administration), A. Hajian and V. Pirsky (surveying) and T. Sagiv (photography).
A winepress (Fig. 1) that consisted of a rock-hewn treading floor (Fig. 1:1) and two collecting vats was exposed. A hewn channel led from the treading floor, which had been extensively damaged by mechanical equipment, to a small collecting vat (0.8 × 0.8 m, depth 0.9 m; Fig. 1:2). Another channel conveyed liquid from that vat to a larger collecting vat (1.0 × 1.2 m, depth 1.4 m; Fig. 1:3) whose plaster floor incorporated potsherds that probably dated to the Byzantine period. At the bottom of each vat was a settling pit.