Two sections of walls (W1, W2) that formed a corner were discovered c. 1 m below surface. Wall 1 was preserved one course high and included two large ashlar stones (length c. 2.55 m, width and height c. 0.6 m). It was built directly on bedrock, which was leveled with gray cement that contained chalk, ash and gravel. The southern part of the wall was only survived by its foundation (L107). Wall 2 (width c. 0.7 m), which was exposed for a length of c. 1.5 m, was constructed from large fieldstones. Both walls were apparently the exterior walls of a building. A square vat (L103; side and height 0.54 m) was discovered in the inner corner of the building. The vat was built of small and medium-sized stones bonded with cement that was composed of chalk, ash, carbon and gravel. Two layers of plaster were discerned inside the vat. The bottom layer (c. 1 cm thick) included white chalk, fine gravel and ground potsherds. The upper application (c. 0.8 cm thick) was dark gray and consisted of several thin layers that were smoothed; this layer probably meant to seal the surface of the installation. The multiple plaster layers evidence a prolonged use and repairs of the installation.

 

The floor of the building (L106) was the leveled bedrock, discovered at a depth of c. 1 m from the top of W1. A pilaster of ceramic bricks (0.5 × 0.6 m, thickness 4 cm) was on bedrock in the southwestern part of the square. To the west of the pilaster inside the section was another pilaster (L110; length 1.1 m, width 0.1 m, height 0.9 m) built of brick courses (each course 4–5 cm thick) that surrounded an ashlar core. The brick interstices were filled with cement that consisted of chalk, ash, carbon, and fine gravel. To the south of the pilaster was a segment of an ashlar wall (W6), oriented north–south and preserved two courses high. A masonry stone was discerned, in situ, behind the wall and the pilaster within the section; it probably belonged to a wall that was beneath the brick pilaster.

 

The building remains were covered with accumulations of small and medium-sized stones, as well as numerous fragments of pottery vessels, among them jars, bowls, kraters, and cooking pots. Most of the ceramic finds dated to the Byzantine period and the rest were from the Late Roman period. Fragments of roof tiles and ceramic pipes (tubuli) that had a circular or rectangular cross-section and were covered with soot were also found. The hot air that was meant to heat the walls flowed through these pipes. The accumulated debris contained several very small glass vessels from the Byzantine period, mostly discovered outside the building, east of W1. They included bowl rims, body fragments decorated with trails, a wick-tube fragment of an oil lamp, a fragment of a wineglass base and a glass tessera.

 

It seems that the excavated remains belonged to a bathhouse that was part of the monasteries and hospices in the region during the Byzantine period (ESI 10:130).

 

A fortnight after the excavation, two plastered channels were documented c. 10 m west of the excavation area. The channels were coated with hydraulic plaster composed of chalk, ash, fine gravel and ground potsherds. The two adjacent channels (width 0.12 and 0.20 m), aligned east–west, probably served to drain the bathhouse or perhaps conveyed water into it.