During July 2010, a trial excavation was conducted in the Ramat Yishay industrial region (Permit No. A-6004; map ref. 216515–664/734735–870). The excavation, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and underwritten by the Mor Assets and Investment Company, Ltd., was directed by B. Hanna (field photography), with the assistance of R. Mishayev and M. Cohen (surveying and drafting) and Y. Lavan (administration).
Four excavation squares (I–IV) were opened within the precincts of the old “‘Or Laq” factory compound located in the industrial region (Fig. 1). Building-stone quarries were discovered in Squares III and IV, which were probably part of an industrial region during the Byzantine period. No ancient finds were discovered in the two other squares. During the construction of the factory in 1958, an excavation was conducted there due to damage caused to antiquities and a burial cave dating to the Late Roman period was exposed (License No. G-20/1958). Remains of a large settlement and a khan from the Ottoman period were documented in a survey performed nearby, and numerous potsherds that dated from the Roman to the Ottoman periods were gathered (Map of Nahalal [28], Site 48).
Squares I, II. An outcrop of limestone bedrock beneath a layer of clayey soil was discovered in the two squares, located c. 50 m apart.
Square III. Some 40 m west of Sq II, an outcrop of limestone bedrock, which contained a small quarry (L104; 0.5 × 0.7 m; Figs. 2, 3) was discovered. A layer of clay soil mixed with potsherds from the Byzantine period was discovered above the bedrock outcrop.
Square IV. Limestone outcrops that contained a building-stone quarry (L105; 2.3 × 2.5 m; Figs. 4, 5) were discovered c. 10 m south of Sq III. Two quarrying steps (height of each step 0.35–0.45 m) were discovered in it. Separating channels (width 1 m) used to detach the stones were noted in the quarry. A layer of clay soil mixed with potsherds from the Byzantine period was exposed above the quarry and bedrock outcrop.