Terrace walls, stone heaps and fences that delimited cultivation plots were excavated along the course of c. 1,500 m on the slopes of both sides of Nahal ‘Adasha (Fig. 1).

Terrace 100: A wall (length c. 9 m, width 0.3 m, height 0.3 m) built of small fieldstones (max. length of stones 0.3 m) that retained a strip of ground (width c. 0.7 m, depth 0.2–0.3 m; Figs. 2, 3).

 

Terrace 101: A wall (length 2.4 m, width 0.3 m, height 0.4 m) built of small stones that retained a strip of ground (width c. 0.6 m, depth 0.3 m; Figs. 2, 4).

 

Stone Heap 102 (diam. 0.8 m, height 0.5 m, max. length of stones 0.4 m). The heap was situated atop a layer of natural loess (thickness 0.1 m) that overlay bedrock (Figs. 2, 5).

 

Terrace 103: A wall (length 3.1 m), preserved a single course high and built of a single row of small stones (max. length of stones c. 0.2 m), which retained a strip of ground (width c. 0.4 m, depth c. 0.1 m; Figs. 2, 6).

 

Terrace 104: A wall (length 2.6 m, width 0.2 m, height 0.35 m) built of small stones that retained a strip of ground (width 0.6 m, depth 0.2 m; Figs. 7, 8).

 

Stone Heap 105 (diam. 1.2 m, height 0.4 m). The heap was situated atop a layer of loess (thickness 0.2 m) that overlay natural bedrock (Figs. 7, 9).

 

Stone Heap 106 (diam. 1.2 m, height 0.5 m) consisted of stones (length up to 0.4 m) and was situated atop a layer of loess (thickness 0.2 m) that overlay natural bedrock (Figs. 7, 10).

 

Wall 107 (width c. 0.7 m, height 0.2 m) was built of a small pile of stones and delimited an area (30 × 70 m) that contained lines of terraces and stone heaps (Figs. 7, 11).

 

Terrace 108: A wall (length 2.0 m, width 0.2 m, height 0.2 m) built of small stones (up to 0.2 m long) that retained a strip of ground (width 0.5 m, depth 0.1–0.2 m; Figs. 12, 13).

 

Wall 109 (length 3.3 m, width 1.0 m, height 0.6 m), built of large stones (max. length 0.6 m), was probably a stone heap rather than a retaining wall (Fig. 12, 14).

 

Terrace 110: A wall built widthwise across the wadi channel (length 2.8 m, width 1.1 m, height 0.7 m; Fig. 15).

 

Stone Heap 111 (diam. 0.9 m, height 0.4 m, max. length of stones 0.2 m) was situated atop a layer of loess (thickness 0.25 m) that overlay natural bedrock (Fig. 16).

 

Stone Heap 112 (diam. 1.3 m, height 0.6 m, length of stones 0.4–0.6 m) was situated atop a layer of loess (thickness 0.2 m) that overlay natural bedrock.

 

Wall 113 (width 0.8 m, max. length 0.4 m, preserved height c. 0.5 m), which delimited an agricultural area on a slope (43 × 51 m), was built of two rows of fieldstones and preserved two–three courses high.

Terrace 114 (length 6.6 m, width 0.6 m, height c. 0.2 m) is a wall situated atop natural bedrock (Fig. 17).

 

Stone Heap 115 (diam. 3.3 m, height 1.2 m, length of stones 0.1–0.2 m) is situated atop a layer of loess (depth 0.25 m) that overlay natural bedrock (Fig. 18).

 

The antiquities sites are located in the midst of agricultural complexes on the slopes of both sides of Nahal ‘Adasha. The complexes included fences that delimited farmland (30–60 × 60–70 m), which contained shallow terraces, small and large stone heaps and lines of walls. Similar complexes that also included monasteries, churches and square watchman’s huts were found in the Shephelah (the Yattir region) and in the northern Negev (see M. Haiman, 2007, The Agricultural Landscape of the Yattir Region from the Sixth to Eighth Centuries CE – Ethnic and Economic Aspects, Judea and Samaria Research Studies, Vol. 16, pp. 131–146 [Hebrew]). Two square watchman’s huts (not excavated) were discovered near the Nahal ‘Adasha excavations, c. 3.5 km from the Horbat Qeriyyot monastery. The excavations of similar agricultural complexes in the Yattir region revealed that they were located near industrial winepresses. This is the case of the agricultural complexes in Nahal ‘Adasha as well; c. 500 m to their north, near Horbat Merkaz, an industrial winepress with a large collecting vat (capacity of 6,000 liters) was discovered. It seems that the agricultural complexes in Nahal ‘Adasha, like other complexes in the Yattir region, date to the fifth–seventh centuries CE.