Prior to the excavation, ancient remains were identified and exposed by IAA inspectors, utilizing heavy mechanical equipment. A courtyard in front of a Second Temple period cave, a limekiln, watchtowers, cisterns from the Early Bronze Age and the Byzantine period and a segment of an ancient road, were excavated.
Burial Complex. The complex from the Second Temple period (Fig. 1) included a courtyard surrounded with hewn tombs. Only the courtyard was excavated, revealing five stages of use. The first stage included a square courtyard (3.5 × 3.5 m; depth 2.2–2.9 m), whose walls and floor were coated with light gray plaster. A tomb was hewn in the center of the eastern wall, along with a standing pit and a blocking stone beside it. In the second stage, three additional tombs were cut into the northern, eastern and western walls of the courtyard. Their levels were lower than that of the first tomb, requiring a wide step that was hewn along the northern courtyard wall that led to the tombs. The entrances to the tombs were found secured with blocking stones. The potsherds discovered on the floor of the courtyard indicate that the tombs may be dated to the Early Roman period. A circular limekiln was built in the third stage, abutting the walls of the courtyard. At the bottom of the kiln were burnt stones and ash. The fourth stage comprised a wall of large undressed stones (average 0.5 m) that was built at the northwestern corner of the kiln and was preserved three courses high. The room created by the construction of the wall was used as a watchtower or a shelter. The fifth stage included a stone clearance heap, discerned on surface, which consisted of small stones that covered the fourth stage wall.
The Watchtower. This structure was built on leveled bedrock of dressed stones and was preserved two courses high. A fill of undressed stones was intentionally laid inside the watchtower to raise the level of the floor. At a later stage, the watchtower went out use and was covered with a stone clearance heap.
Cisterns. A bell-shaped water cistern was exposed; its shaft (diam. 1 m, depth 2.7 m) and the upper part of the cistern's chamber were excavated. Remains of gray plaster that contained a few potsherds from the Byzantine period were discerned on the cistern wall.
A bell-shaped cistern (depth 4.6 m) was discovered in a natural depression in the rock. The shaft extending down to it (length 1.5 m, diam. 0.9–1.3 m) was hewn in hard limestone. The cistern was cut in kirton limestone and contained a fill of pebbles, stones, and a few flints and potsherds that were dated to Early Bronze Age II.
The Ancient Road. A segment of an ancient road (length c. 15 m, width 4.1 m) oriented north–south was discerned. It was composed of irregular-sized flat stone slabs and was flanked by walls (width 0.7 m) that were used as curb stones. A probe (1.5 × 3.0 m) excavated across the road contained a fill of terra rosa that covered the stones of the road. A single potsherd from an Early Roman-period jar was discovered.