A backhoe-dug probe in a rock-hewn water cistern, which was recorded during a development survey on the slope of the southern bank of Nahal Kefira, was manually examined and documented (Figs. 1, 2).
The elliptical cistern had a bell-shaped cross-section (3.5–4.0 × 4.0 m). Its sides and floor were coated with a layer of hydraulic plaster (thickness 14 mm) and a rectangular opening (L1; 0.8 × 1.0 m, height 0.6 m) was hewn in its ceiling. The fill inside the cistern included a layer of gray soil mixed with a collapse of large stones (L2; 0.8 × 1.0 m, height 1–2 m) and a burnt layer (L3; thickness 0.1 m) below it. A layer of soil (L4; thickness 0.5 m) on the floor of the cistern contained fragments of jugs from the first century BCE (Fig. 3:1–7) and was probably dated to the period of its use. Fragments of a FBW-type jug (Fig. 3:8) that dated to the seventh–eighth centuries CE were recovered from the upper fill, below the opening of the cistern. The surface around the cistern was enclosed within a terrace wall, 2.5 m to the west, oriented north–south; perpendicular to it was a stone fence that delimited cultivation plots.