During the end of June and beginning of July 2004 a salvage excavation was conducted at Khirbat el-Khamis northwest of Bethlehem (Permit No. A-4154*; map ref. NIG 218/626; OIG 168/126), prior to the construction of the separation fence. The excavation, on behalf of the Antiquities Authority and funded by the Ministry of Defense, was directed by I. Zilberbod, with the assistance of E. Asulin and I. Ohana (security) and R. Abu-Khalaf (administration).
Two squares were excavated down to bedrock. The soil fill contained numerous masonry stones, some of which were dressed, a few pieces of mosaic and many fragments of pottery vessels from the Byzantine period. A coin dating to the end of the fourth century CE (383–395 CE) was discovered right above bedrock. The excavation is located within the site of Khirbat el-Khamis (A. Kloner, The Survey of Jerusalem, the Southern Sector, 2000:57*–58*, Site 152).