The Field Towers

 

The Animal Pen

  × 2.5 m, depth 0.3 m), from which a hewn channel (length 0.3 m, width 0.1 m, depth 5 cm) led to a rectangular collecting vat (0.8 × 1.4 m, depth 0.75 m).

The Winepresses

  × 2.15 m, depth 8 cm) and a short channel (length 0.15 m, width 0.1 m) that led to a rectangular collecting vat (0.65 × 0.90 m, depth 0.45 m). A circular depression (diam. 0.15 m depth 0.1 m) was hewn in the eastern part of the collecting vat. Around the winepress eight cupmarks (diam. 0.4–0.8 m) were cut, two of them were connected to the collecting vat by way of rock-cut channels.

Winepress 2 (Fig. 5) was located in the south of the area, c. 50 m southeast of Tower 2. It consisted of a square treading surface (2.10

  × 1.1 m) and an oval-shaped one (1.9 × 3.9 m) in the ceiling. Several Iron Age III pottery fragments were discovered in the cave, as well as a grinding stone, a silver ring or earring and fragments of a glass bracelet from the Mamluk period. It seems the cave was used as a dwelling and later, as a shelter for local shepherds.

 

 

The Cave

(Fig. 5) was c. 1 m east of Winepress 2. It consisted of a single round chamber (diam. 6.5 m), wherein several signs of rock cuttings were discerned. The cave had two entrances, a rectangular one in the southern side (0.7
. Winepress 1 (Fig. 4) was 19 m east of Tower 4. It consisted of a square treading surface (2.5 × 9 m). In the center of the animal pen was a bedrock surface, where an opening to a cave that was not excavated, was found.
(Fig. 3) was located in the center of the area, c. 50 m southwest of Tower 3. A wall built of large fieldstones and preserved a single course high (0.5 m) enclosed an oval area (7
were built on a ridge, 100–300 m apart (Table 1; Figs. 1–2). They consisted of a single square room; only the northern half of Tower 3 was preserved. Outside Tower 4 and next to its eastern corner was a hewn cupmark (diam. 0.3 m, depth 0.17 m).

Table 1. Field Towers

 

Tower 1

Tower 2

Tower 3

Tower 4

General dimensions (m)

4.0 × 4.2

4.1 × 5.0

4.1 preserved length, 6.1 width

3.2 × 3.5

Wall width (m)

0.7

0.8

1.1

0.9

Wall construction

Outer face: large roughly hewn fieldstones. Inner face: small fieldstones

Same as Tower 1

Same as Tower 1

Single row of large roughly hewn fieldstones

Preserved height

2–4 courses

2–4 courses

2–4 courses

4 courses

Alignment with cardinal points

Walls

Walls

Walls

Corners of building

Eantrance wall

Eastern

Eastern

-

Southwestern

Entrance width (m)

0.6–0.7

0.6–0.7

-

0.8

Floor

Beaten earth overlying bedrock

Beaten earth overlying fieldstones

Bedrock

Bedrock

Other features

Square rock-cutting in floor of northwestern corner (0.18 × 0.29 m, depth 0.06 m)

-

-

-

Threshholds and doorjambs

Flat stone thresholds, dressed doorjambs with holes for bolt

Same as Tower 1

-

?

Finds

Byzantine-period pottery; glass fragments;worn coin (Staff Officer No. 29545)

Byzantine-period pottery

Byzantine-period pottery

Byzantine-period pottery