In June 2014, a salvage excavation was conducted at the Holy Land Hotel site in Jerusalem’s Gazelle Valley Park (Permit No. A-7153; map ref. 218618-27/629609-16; Fig. 1), prior to the construction of a series of pools in a municipal park that was slated to be built. The excavation, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and financed by the Nature and Parks Authority, was directed by Z. Turgeman-Yaffe, with the assistance of A. Zilberstein (preliminary inspections), A. Hajian and M. Kunin (surveying), N. Malka (administration), A. Weigmann and A. Re’em (IAA Jerusalem Region), S. Mizrahi (consultation), B. Storchan (computer data input), D. Porotsky (drafting) and laborers from East Jerusalem.
Two excavation squares were opened, revealing a wall foundation that was likely the wall of a terrace or a dam that extended the breadth of the valley. The wall, aligned east–west, was built of large roughly hewn stones (0.6 × 0.5 m). Around the wall were layers of alluvium, mainly of small stones and extremely abraded and eroded Roman–Byzantine pottery sherds.
The wall did not survive in its entirety; the excavation revealed two sections (W101 in the east, W104 in the west, each c. 5 m long; Figs. 2, 3), preserved to a height of just one course (average height 0.4 m). The stones in the southern face were worked and neatly arranged, most likely in secondary use.
Roman–Byzantine pottery sherds mixed with modern artifacts were found in the layers above the wall (L100, L106). Sherds dating to the Roman-Byzantine period were unearthed in a trial trench excavated south of the wall, below the level of the wall foundation (L107). It was not possible to date the construction of the wall based on these finds; however, it should be emphasized that the potsherds found nearby were quite homogeneous (Roman-Byzantine) and may have been swept there along with the runoff from a site located to the north.