Four squares, two in the south (3.7 × 3.7 m) and two in the north (2.5 × 2.5 m), were excavated in accordance with the pylon’s foundations. Although no ancient remains were found on surface, the area was on the edge of a hill where a Chalcolithic settlement is located. While digging the foundations of the electric pylon two parallel walls (W1, W2), which seemed to be part of an agricultural installation, were exposed below surface in the southern squares (Figs. 1, 2). The finds included pottery fragments from the Chalcolithic and Byzantine periods that were swept over from the neighboring site. Alluvium soil that contained a few potsherds was found in the northern squares.

 

Wall 1 (1.2 m wide; Fig. 3) consisted of two rows of basalt fieldstones with a core of smaller basalt stones; it was preserved two courses high (0.5 m). The western half of the wall was destroyed and only the core was preserved. Its width suggested that it was possibly used to protect the agricultural area from flooding by the nearby wadi. Wall 2, to its south, was well-built (0.8 m wide) and preserved three courses high (0.6 m). Its northern face was built of roughly hewn limestone blocks combined with basalt fieldstones, which also composed the southern face. The western part of the wall used a different construction method, utilizing three large limestone blocks that were set in place diagonally. Between the walls was soil mixed with small stones and potsherds, dating to the Chalcolithic and Byzantine periods, of which only a few were diagnostic.

 

To determine the function and date of W2 the excavation was expanded southward. Excavating the wall’s foundation revealed only agricultural soil and it therefore seems that the wall was part an agricultural terrace. Although the date of its construction is unclear, pottery fragments from the Byzantine period found in its foundation may indicate it was built during this period or later. It was not ascertained if a row of large limestone blocks below W2 was placed there on purpose. A soil fill north of the stone row contained Chalcolithic potsherds, which were probably washed here from an adjacent site.