In June–July 2014, a salvage excavation was conducted in an ancient quarry in the Har Homa quarter of Jerusalem (Permit No. A-7158; map ref. 220950/625781; Fig. 1), prior to development. The excavation, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and financed by the Ministry of Construction and Housing, was directed by D. Tanami (photography), with the assistance of N. Nahama (administration), M. Kunin and M. Kahan (surveying and drafting), D. Porotzki (plan), D. Ben-Ami (scientific guidance) and Y. Barshak (computing). The quarry was discovered in trial trenches dug prior to the excavation by L. Oz.
Shallow rock-cuttings (max. depth 0.15 m) were discovered on the southern and eastern sides of the quarry; those on the eastern side were apparently the severance channels of stones (Fig. 4). The rock-cuttings on the southern side (L200) may have been installations—small surfaces used for processing agricultural produce (Fig. 5). Deeper rock-cuttings (depth c. 0.3 m) discovered on the northern side of the quarry extended in both a northeast and a southwest direction, beyond the limits of the excavation area. The excavation yielded a scant amount of non-diagnostic pottery sherds and some industrial tesserae. The quarry might have been used by the residents of the Jebel Abu Ghana‘im site, in which case it dates to the Byzantine and Early Islamic periods.
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