The trench was dug by the Meqorot Water Company, west of and parallel to Highway 3, which extends from Shimshon to Re’em junctions (south of the railroad crossing). The trench damaged the middle of the upper half of an ancient cistern, whose date is unknown. The cistern, hewn in soft limestone bedrock (Fig. 1), was used as a refuse pit in the Byzantine period. Although it was not possible to reconstruct its outline, it was feasible to estimate the circumference of the cistern, which did not exceed 3 m. Numerous and varied potsherds, dating to the end of the sixth–seventh centuries CE, were found in the upper 1.5 m of the cistern and included bowls (Fig. 2:1–6), a krater (Fig. 2:7), jars (Fig. 2:8–10), handles (Fig. 2:11, 12), a small bowl (Fig. 2:13), large animal bones, glass fragments and layers of ash. The last 0.5 m down to the bottom of the cistern consisted of a sand deposit that was devoid of finds.

Two cavities near the cistern that initially looked like the remains of an underground hiding refuge complex turned out to be geological pockets that resulted from water percolating through the soft limestone.

It can be assumed that the cistern was related to the rich site nearby (HA-ESI 112:98*–100*).