The current excavation area consisted of a single square (4 × 6 m; Fig. 1), set parallel to the church wall; it aimed to expose part of the ancient church, which was not excavated before. Meager archeological remains were uncovered and two levels were distinguished, including a stone layer, a severely damaged wall and partial remains of a plaster floor (Fig 2).
Level 1: Following the removal of a modern sand layer (thickness c. 0.5 m), a layer of compact grayish brown matrix with very few potsherds was exposed (L100; Fig.3).
This layer included a feature of small and medium-sized stones, as well as white colored mortar or plaster; the purpose of which is unknown. On the north side of this feature, the stones appear to be set in a semicircle (width 1 m, preserved height 0.6 m; Fig. 4), which could be the remains of a pillar base (?).
The potsherds in this level were worn and non-diagnostic. The large amount of modern debris probably resulted from the hewing of a drain pipe channel (0.15 m within bedrock), which had cut through the whole length of the excavation area.
Level 2: This level consisted of a badly preserved wall (W10; length 0.65 m; Fig. 5). Wall 10, built of square basalt stones in an east–west direction, was preserved a single course high (0.3 m). Some flat stones that extended westward indicate that W10 had originally continued in this direction and was set directly upon bedrock, yet it suffered extensive damage, probably due to the drain-pipe channel. The preserved part of W10 probably represents part of the ancient church’s inner wall.
To the south of W10 were the badly preserved remains of a beaten-earth floor, coated with plaster and overlain with stone collapse (Floor B; Fig. 6). It is likely that Floor B was associated with W10, although the damage cause by the drain pipe channel precludes any connection.
The stone collapse (L102), to the west of Floor B, could be part of the stone element (L100) in Level 1, in which case it formed the outer wall of the Byzantine church that was discovered during the 1932 excavations. A probe (L101) excavated to the south of the stone collapse revealed a British Mandatory coin dating to 1940; it indicates that the area was exposed close to bedrock at this time.
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