Farmstead 1. Six partly preserved farming terraces were documented within the precincts of the farmstead (23 dunams). The terrace walls (width 0.9 m, height c. 0.7 m), aligned southeast-northwest, were built of two rows of different size fieldstones, forming a dam of sorts in the wadi channel. Field walls that divided the farmstead into small agricultural plots were built on the banks of the wadi, above the flow channel. The construction of the field walls was similar to that of the farming terrace walls. The farmstead was surrounded by an enclosure wall (width c. 1.2 m; Fig. 3) built of medium-sized fieldstones. Three openings were installed in the enclosure wall (each c. 10 m wide), on the slopes of a ridge in the western part of the farmstead. Walls (length 2–5 m) were built on the sides of the openings, perpendicular to the enclosure. These openings diverted the run-off that flowed from the slopes of the ridge to the wadi channel and the cultivation plots in it.
 
Farmstead 2. Eight well-preserved farming terrace walls were documented within the precincts of the farmstead (40 dunams). The walls (width 0.5–1.0 m, height c. 0.6 m), aligned northwest-southeast, were built of two rows of different size fieldstones placed on the loess, forming a dam of sorts in the wadi channel (Fig. 4). Cultivation plots delimited by field walls were preserved in the part of the farmstead upstream. The farmstead was surrounded by an enclosure wall (width 0.8 m) built of two rows of medium-sized fieldstones with a core of small fieldstones. The western part of the enclosure wall was partially preserved. The wall might have been destroyed in this section in a later phase, to enable the construction of other farming terraces in the west of the farmstead.
 
The Excavation. Two half squares were excavated along the edge of Farmstead 1, close to the three openings in the enclosure wall and a section of the farmstead’s enclosure wall was exposed (W1; exposed length 2 m, width c. 1.2 m; Figs. 5, 6). The wall, oriented east–west and placed on the loess soil, was built of two rows of different size fieldstones with a core of small fieldstones. A heap of small fieldstones (L101; 1.2×1.5 m, height 0.3 m) was exposed outside the area of the farmstead, c. 2.8 m north of the wall. These stones may have been used for building the wall or maintaining it.
 
Potsherds were collected in the survey that was conducted within the framework of the excavation. These included a bowl rim dating to the Byzantine–Umayyad periods, several non-diagnostic body fragments and several body fragments of black Gaza ware from the end of the Ottoman period.
It seems that the farmsteads documented in the excavation were used by residents of the nearby city of Mamshit. The construction method utilized in building the farming terraces is similar to that of the farmsteads west of Mamshit. It is extremely difficult to date the farmsteads in the Negev highlands and the meager ceramic artifacts in this excavation do not contribute much to solving the problem; at the very best, they allude to activity that occurred in the Late Byzantine–Umayyad and Ottoman periods.