During June 2006, a survey prior to development was conducted at Har Homa (Permit No. A-4821; map ref. NIG 2215–25/6245–55; OIG 1715–25/1245–55), in a region slated for the construction. The survey, on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, was directed by Y. Dagan and L. Barda.
Two hills were surveyed east of Giv‘at Homa and west of Khirbat Luka , c. 500 m from Khirbat Mazmuriya, in a region that had previously been surveyed (Fig. 1; A. Kloner, 2002, Survey of Jerusalem, The Southern Sector, Sites 134, 135 and Site 136–Kh. Mazmuriya).
Rock-hewn installations were surveyed on the northern hill, including a winepress (Figs. 1:5; 2); cup marks (Fig. 1:8, 12, 13); two hewn cisterns with round shaft openings (Fig. 1:6, 18), one of which was covered with a round capstone, (Fig. 3); and two burial caves, fronted by remains of courtyards (Figs. 1:7, 16; 4, 5). Numerous potsherds that dated to the Roman period were found in the opening of Burial Cave 16. Other antiquities included a bodeda for producing oil that consisted of a hewn basin connected by way of a narrow channel to a cup mark (Fig. 1:9), two adjacent rock-hewn elliptical shafts (Fig. 1:15) that were surrounded by a dense concentration of potsherds and two rock cuttings: remains of an installation (Fig. 1:11) and a hewn channel (Fig. 1:14).
Potsherds that ranged in date from Iron II until the Byzantine period were found on the surface, at the top of a rocky hill. Fieldstone-built farming terraces (Figs. 1:1–4, 17, 21; 6) and caves (Fig. 1:10, 19, 20) were surveyed along the slopes of the hill.
The antiquities on the southern hill included three caves (Fig. 1:28–30), a quarry in which a stone that had not been detached was discerned (Fig. 1:26), farming terraces built of fieldstones (Fig. 1:22) and dressed stones (Fig. 1:27) and a concentration of dressed stones (Fig. 1:25).
Small cup marks arranged in rows were hewn on a bedrock surface, located between the two hills (Figs. 1:23; 7) and a rectangular rock hewn tomb (Fig. 1:24) was noted close to this surface.
Rock-hewn agricultural installations that dated to various periods were discovered at most of the survey points; these served the people of the adjacent settlements, Khirbat Luqa and Khirbat Mazmuriya. The ceramic finds dated to the Roman and Byzantine periods. The small bedrock-hewn cup marks (No. 23) probably attest to a nearby prehistoric site (Neolithic?).