In July 2017, an excavation was conducted at Ha-Ma‘ayan St. in the Ligad Center, Modi‘in, in Lots 61–64 (Permit No. A-8069; map ref. 197169/646775; Fig. 1) prior to the construction of an industrial building. The excavation, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and financed by Mega Or Holdings Ltd., was directed by I. Jonish (field photography), with the assistance of Y. Amrani and E. Bachar (administration), S. Zur (preliminary inspections), A. Dagot (GPS) P. Gendelman (scientific guidance) and A. ‘Azab (IAA Central District Archaeologist).
The field wall (W16; preserved length 7 m; Figs. 2, 3) was built of large stones (average size 0.26 × 0.80 × 0.90 m), some of which were placed alongside each other and others c. 0.3 m apart. It probably served for demarcating the boundary of an agricultural plot.
The cupmarks (L15—diam. 0.84 m, depth 0.26 m [Fig. 4]; L18—diam. 0.25 m, depth 0.21 m [Fig. 5]) were found 1.5 m apart.
The installation (L17), which could be discerned on the surface prior to the excavation, was hewn into a large, smoothed boulder (length c. 2 m, width 1.3 m; Fig. 6). A rock cutting (depth c. 3 cm) was preserved on its northern edge, and a square depression (0.30 × 0.34 m, depth 0.25 m) was hewn to its west. The installation was probably used to process agricultural produce.
Three additional probes unearthed bedrock outcrops with no archaeological remains.
The boundary wall, the cupmarks and the installation, along with the agricultural installations unearthed in previous excavations in the vicinity, attest to farming activity at nearby Horbat Zekharya and Horbat Haruba. In lieu of datable finds, they should probably be attributed to the Byzantine period, like the other installations in the region.