Stone Clearance Heaps (Fig. 1:1–6, 8–13, 15–18, 20–26, 28–31). The heaps are rectangular or oval in shape (2–3 × 6–7 m, max. height 1 m, apart from Nos. 13, 23 and 24 which are higher than the rest; see below). Most of the heaps were placed on large rocks or rocky outcrops, and some were piled on the ground. Heaps 13, 23, and 24 reach a height of 1.5 m and are surrounded by a row of large stones (Figs. 2, 3). On the surface besides the heaps were potsherds from the Rashaya el-Fukhar pottery workshop in southern Lebanon, dating from the Ottoman and British Mandate periods (Roth 1984; Ben Dror 1993; Berger 2015; Stern 2016). Similar pottery was found beneath the mounds of stones in Heaps 20–22, 25 and 26, as were a few iron artifacts, including fragments of a shoe sole, a buckle and a wedge that are probably contemporaneous with the potsherds. Numerous flint artifacts were collected from the surface (Spivak, below). According to members of Kibbutz ‘Amiad, several of the heaps were cleared up to the 1970s. Although they do not remember exactly which ones they cleared, they were able to say that they were neither the large heaps nor those that were cleared in a certain order.  
 
Hewn Installations. A cupmark (diam. 0.3 m, depth 7 cm; Figs. 1:7; 4) and a rock-hewn ring beside it were unearthed. It is impossible to ascertain whether the cupmark and the ring were hewn at the same time, but other cupmarks in the vicinity which are not accompanied by a ring (cupmarks at Fig. 1:14, below; Stepansky 2012: Site 273) suggest that the cupmark predates the ring and was subsequently converted into a trough, at which time the ring was hewn for tethering animals. Two cupmarks joined together were also found (diam. 0.3 m each., depth 0.1 m each; Figs. 1:14; 5; 6). They had been cut into the bedrock slope, one higher up than the other, and may have been used as the treading floor and a collecting vat of a winepress. In addition, an oval basin (0.7 × 0.8 m, depth 0.1 m; Fig. 1:19) with a rock-hewn ring beside it was exposed; the basin may also have been used as a trough with an adjacent tethering ring. A poorly preserved winepress (Fig. 1:27) was found beneath Stone Heap 26 and the soil that had accumulated at its base. The winepress comprised a treading floor (2.0 × 2.5 m), of which only a small part of the northern wall was preserved (height c. 3 cm). A rectangular collecting vat (0.6 × 1.1 m, depth 0.4 m) was found in the northeast corner of the treading floor. A similar winepress had previously been found approximately 500 m to the north (Stepansky 2012: Site 320).
 
Field Walls. Several field walls adjoining to create an F-shaped construction were built in an area of basalt bedrock (see Fig. 1). The walls delimited a series of parallel agricultural plots set perpendicular to the slope. Two squares (A1, A2) were opened alongside the northern part of two of the walls (W101, W104; Fig. 7) near two of the walls (W101, W104). They yielded potsherds from the Rashaya el-Fukhar pottery workshop in southern Lebanon, similar to those recovered near the stone-clearance heaps. A half-franc silver coin from 1602, found at L105, bears the bust of King Henri IV of France on one side and his royal insignia on the other (Kool, below; see Fig. 10). It is worn, with a hole pierced in it, and was clearly used as an ornament. The use of coins as ornaments was recorded by Crown Prince George of Britain (later George V) and by Mark Twain in their travels in Palestine during the latter half of the nineteenth century (Prince Albert Victor and Prince George of Wales 1886:562; Twain 1911:358). The finds show that the agricultural plot was farmed at the earliest in the Ottoman period, and possibly only beginning during the British Mandate. The plot seems to have comprised the northern part of the cultivated land that extended as far as the southern bank of Nahal ‘Amiad and was registered in the name of Qulus el-Karaidi in the first half of the twentieth century (Survey of Palestine 1941; Royal Air Force 1945; Survey of Palestine-Eretz Israel 1947).
 
Dolmen. A basalt-built dolmen comprising a burial chamber (0.8 × 2.1 m, height 0.6 m; Figs. 1, 8, 9) roofed with a large stone slab (1.5 × 2.0 m, thickness 0.5 m) was unearthed. The dolmen was enclosed by a wall (diam. c. 7.5 m) set on a semi-circular foundation (diam. c. 12 m). It seems that the dolmen was documented by both Stekelis and Karge, but their descriptions lack its precise location and plan (Karge 1917; Stekelis 1962).
 
A Silver Coin
Robert Kool
 
A large silver coin was found in the excavation: a half franc from the reign of the French king Henri IV (1589–1610 CE). The coin was minted in the royal mint of Toulouse in 1602 (Fig. 10). It is pierced, evidence of its secondary use as a pendant, or as part of a ceremonial headdress (wuqayat ed-daharem) worn in late Ottoman Palestine (Gonen 1997:60).
The appearance of this coin in the Middle East dates to the late sixteenth century CE, when the Ottoman empire developed a growing dependency on large imports of foreign silver coins to meet growing demands for cash silver coins within its borders (Kool 2002). This process started after the 1580s, with the dramatic devaluation of the akce, the indigenous Ottoman silver coin. Among the imported silver coins were apparently substantially large numbers of these half francs of Henri IV. The arrival of these French coins in Ottoman Palestine seems to have coincided with the establishment of steady diplomatic relations between the Ottoman empire and France during Henri’s reign, by which France was granted considerable trading privileges (Capitulations) with the Ottoman empire.
Three silver half francs of Henri IV were found on Mount Arbel (IAA 160, 164, 175) and a similar single half franc was discovered in a large silver hoard of west and central European coins discovered at the village of Qabatiya (Taha, Pol and Kooij 2006:45).
 
B1005, L105, IAA 161158.
Henri IV, king of France (1589–1610 CE), Toulouse, 1602.
Obv.: HENRICVS IIII D G FRANG ET NAVA REX Laureate and armored bust
of the king, r. Mintmark: M (=Toulouse).
Rev.: SIT NOMEN DOMINI BENEDICTVM 1602 Cross Fleurée, H in center.
Æ, 1/2 Franc, 6, 6.82 g, 30 mm, pierced.
Duplessy 1989: No. 1212A.
 
Flint Items
Polina Spivak
 
The flint items (N=64; Table 1) are all surface finds; most are broken, worn, and rolled and the vast majority bear signs of nibbling. These features show that the items were collected in a secondary location and not at the site where they were originally worked or used. Most of the finds are apparently made of uniform, good-quality flint, although layers of patina make identification difficult. The patina can be classified into two types: a heavy, dark patina with a yellowish-reddish hue, and a light, lighter-colored patina with a light brown-gray hue. The darker-colored flints appear to be less well preserved than the lighter ones, which are sharper and generally more intact.
The flint finds consist mainly of flakes (63%) and chunks (20%). The conspicuous absence of primary elements provides further evidence that the flint was not worked at the site. The high percentage of blades (14%) which were also recovered may indicate agricultural activity at the site predating an era when only metal tools were used. Two tools (3%), both scrapers worked on flakes, were also identified. The tools cannot be dated or attributed to a specific culture. 
 
Table 1. Flint items
Item
Quantity
%
Chunks
13
20
Flakes
40
63
Blades/bladelets
9
14
Tools
2
3
Total
64
100