Two half squares, adjacent to each other (northern square––3 × 5 m, southern square––2 × 5 m; Fig. 2), were opened in the current excavation. A light color fill (average depth 2 m), which overlaid bedrock and contained mixed pottery fragments dating to Iron II and the Second Temple period, was excavated. The natural hollows in bedrock (Loci 3 and 4) contained sterile dark brown soil that was devoid of any finds. The light color fill may be alluvium that had washed down from the top of the tell.