During March 2005 a salvage excavation was conducted along Ramallah Road in the Shu‘fat neighborhood of
Jerusalem (Permit No. A-4402*; map ref. NIG 2216–7/6363–5; OIG 1716–7/1363–5). The excavation, on behalf of the Antiquities Authority, was directed by D.A. Sklar-Parnas, with the assistance of N. Sanduka and R. Abu Khalaf (administration), T. Kornfeld, V. Essman and V. Pirsky (surveying), T. Sagiv (photography) and contractor laborers from East Jerusalem.
Three squares were opened adjacent to the western sidewalk of the road and parallel to the row of squares excavated in the 2003 season (HA 117, Area A). The area was damaged in the past by infrastructure work. Prior to the excavation, mechanical equipment removed a layer of asphalt; ancient remains appeared immediately below it. A section of the hypocaust (Fig. 1) with part of a furnace and a plastered installation, which were the continuation of the bathhouse discovered in 2003, were exposed in the southern part of the area.
To its south, a room, wherein two phases were discerned, was excavated. The early phase had a plain mosaic floor and during a later phase, the room was divided in two and a bathtub was built in its northeastern corner. The collapse in the bathhouse contained sections of water and hot air conveying (tubuli) pipes.
Sections of four rooms, paved with stone and crushed chalk, were uncovered in the northern part of the area.
The pottery finds, glass, stone vessels and coins dated the hypocaust to the time period between the second half of the first century CE and the first quarter of the second century CE, confirming the dating established in the previous season.