Stratum IV (Fig. 3). Two sections of a limestone-slab floor (L155, L168) were exposed on the lowest terrace in the western part of the excavation. The floor was founded on a leveled bedrock surface (L153), but was built sloping upward toward the north. The central part of the floor was evidently damaged and dismantled in a later period. Another floor (L147) built of limestone slabs and founded on the bedrock was discovered on a high terrace in the eastern part of the excavation.
Fourteen round rock-hewn pits (1–14; Fig. 4; Table 1), probably used for storage, were also ascribed to Stratum IV. Two quarrying phases were discerned in Pits 4–7; Pits 4 and 6 were hewn first, and after they were no longer used Pits 5 and 7 were hewn. The upper part of Pit 5 was built of small and medium-sized roughly hewn limestone blocks (W31) and was preserved to a height of one meter.
 
 
Table 1. The storage pits (Fig. 4)
Pit No.
Locus No.
Upper Diam. (m)
Lower Diam. (m)
Comment
1
159
1.25–1.35
 
Floor not reached
2
170
0.80–0.85
1.05–1.30
 
3
 
0.80
 
Not excavated
4
Together with Locus 167
0.95
 
Floor not reached
5
 
1.10
 
Not excavated
6
167
1.00
1.30
 
7
171
1.15
1.00
 
8
169
0.85–0.95
1.15–1.20
 
9
172
0.50–0.60
0.40
 
10
166
0.50
 
Floor not reached
11
 
1.10
 
Not excavated
12
 
1.00
 
Not excavated
13
 
1.00
 
Not excavated
14
168
1.10
0.80–0.90
 
 
 
Stratum III (Fig. 5). Remains of a Crusader-period dwelling consisting of three rooms arranged in a row were discovered. The structure’s outer wall (W23) was built of roughly hewn stones founded on a layer of soil fill; it was preserved two courses high. The northwestern corner of the eastern room was unearthed. The wall enclosing the room on the west (W25) and partitioning it from the middle room was built of fieldstones founded on a layer of soil fill; only one course survived. Three of the walls enclosing the middle room (width 4.5 m) were preserved. The western wall (W28) is similar to W25, and like it was preserved only one course high. Remains of an installation were partially exposed in the southern part of the room; the installation’s wall (W30; length c. 1.5 m), which was preserved one course high, was built of roughly hewn limestone blocks and was founded on the bedrock. The floor of the middle room was made of crushed chalk and small fieldstones set on a soil fill. The western room extends beyond the excavated area. Its floor is similar to that in the middle room. An oven (diam. c. 0.6 m) built into the floor of the room was discovered next to the northern wall. The oven was made of tabun material lined with small fieldstones; its floor was paved with bricks.
 
Stratum II (Fig. 5). An L-shaped pool used in slaking lime and dating to the Mamluk period was discovered. The walls of the pool (W12, W18, W20, W21, W26, W27) were built of limestone ashlars and were preserved two courses high. They were founded on the settlement remains of the Crusader period (Stratum III). Lumps of lime were discerned on the walls of the pool, particularly in the joints (Fig. 6), indicating its prolonged use. A Mamluk-period limekiln was discovered in a previous excavation at the site (Hanna 2013), c. 10 m west of the pool. The slaking pool was probably related to a lime-production facility.
 
Stratum I (Fig. 5) comprisedremains of an Ottoman building: eight walls (W13, W15–W17, W19, W22, W24, W29) built of a single row of well-dressed stones and founded on a layer of fill were preserved to a height of one course. A column drum (diam. 0.56–0.62 m, height 1.1 m), standing on the bedrock, was incorporated in the middle of W24. It seems that the Ottoman-period walls utilized the walls of the Mamluk pool (Stratum II), and together formed a large architectural unit that consisted of five spaces. Remains of two crushed-chalk floors (L134, L135) were exposed in the southern part of the building. Floor 135 was founded on the remains from the Mamluk and Crusader periods (Strata III–II). It sloped toward the northwest and abutted Walls 13, 19 and 24. A small rectangular installation built of small stones was discovered at the eastern end of the floor, by W13. The installation’s floor was built of flat, medium-sized fieldstones and was embedded in Floor 135. Floor 134 was founded on wall remains from Stratum III and abutted Walls 24 and 29. A layer of fill that contained pottery sherds and tobacco pipes dating to the Late Ottoman period covered the floor remains.
 
The excavation showed that the area was part of the ancient settlement that existed from the Abbasid period to the Ottoman period. The earliest activity occurred during the Abbasid period, when habitation levels were founded on the bedrock outcrop, and numerous pits, probably intended for storage, were hewn into the bedrock. The area was part of the settlement during the Crusader period as well, as indicated by the remains of a dwelling. In the Mamluk period, the area was left out of the built area of the settlement, as it became part of the settlement’s industrial-agricultural hinterland.