Area A. Eight cist graves (Loci 101, 105, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112) were excavated, out of dozens that were discovered during the antiquities inspection, preceding the excavation. The eight graves were simple pits dug into the ground (depth 1.4–1.6 m), without any lining and devoid of funerary offerings. The interred were placed on their right side in an anatomically articulated position, indicative of primary burial. They were lying in an east–west direction, the head in the west and the face looking south (Figs. 1–4). These graves were similar to four other graves exposed during the trial excavation (Permit No. 4674). Adults of both sexes and children were among the deceased, whose position in the grave is characteristic of burials in Muslim cemeteries and is known from numerous sites in the country, for example Kefar Sava (HA-ESI 117), Nes Ziyyona (ESI 18:73–74; ‘Atiqot 46:37–47 [Hebrew]), Herzliyya (HA-ESI 110:100*) and Kerem Maharal (HA-ESI 118).

 

Area B. The aqueduct was well preserved (Fig. 5), except for three places where it was damaged by olive trees and a section that was severed by a cement wall, which delimited the olive grove (Fig. 6). The aqueduct, generally oriented southwest–northeast, was exposed to a depth of 1 m below surface. The aqueduct was excavated into layers of hamra that overlaid a tamped dark clay layer of varying thickness. It was built of two parallel walls the consisted o fieldstones and bonding material (width 0.35–0.40 m) and a plastered channel between them. The channel was covered with limestone slabs (average dimensions 0.6 × 0.7 m), except for the last 20 m in the southwest where the capstones were probably looted in antiquity (Fig. 7). The aqueduct was damaged on its southwestern side, due to the ground having shifted, especially where it was clayey soil (Fig. 8). The lack of covering slabs had probably also contributed to the instability of the aqueduct; a similar phenomenon was discerned in excavation near Qibbuz Na‘an (HA-ESI 117). The aqueduct and the channel were excavated in three squares. In the northern square the aqueduct was exposed for a distance of 0.9 m (overall width 1 m, width of channel 0.35 m, depth of channel 0.8 m); in this section the covering slabs of the channel were not preserved. In the middle square, two layers of plaster were discovered in the channel; the second layer was probably a later repair. In the southern square, the aqueduct was excavated for a distance of 1.8 m. It was determined that the aqueduct and channel were narrower in this square than in the other two squares (width of aqueduct 0.9 m, width of channel 0.3 m). Two manholes were located along the aqueduct (Figs. 9, 10). The dimensions of the channel and the shafts precluded a person’s entry through them for the cleaning and repair. This is contrary to the manhole shafts in the aqueduct section near Na‘an and it is possible that the shafts flooded the channel with water to locate blockages in it. Checking the elevations at the two ends of the aqueduct ascertained that it was built with a 5% gradient, as Vitruvius suggested regarding the construction of aqueducts.
Two tombs (Loci 209, 210), which had cut through the foundation channel of the aqueduct and hence, postdated the conduit, were exposed in the northeastern part of the aqueduct. The interred were laid in an east–west direction, facing south. The individual in Tomb 210 was laid in anatomic articulation, indicating a primary burial (Figs. 11, 12). Tomb 209 yielded only the upper half of the skeleton and fragments of the cranium.