The cave (max. length 8.5 m, width 7.1 m, height 3.5 m; Fig. 1), comprising three chambers (Loci 53, 55, 57) and preserved in its entirety, except for the eastern wall that was damaged during development work, was found filled with soil. A square opening (1.1 × 1.2 m, height 1.1–1.6 m) was in the center of the cave’s ceiling and two rock-cut footholds (depth 0.25 m) were on the northern and eastern sides of the cave. A wall that comprised 11 courses of stone, bonding material and plaster was built in the eastern open side of Chamber 55, to the full height of the cave (Fig. 2). Along the lower part of the cave’s walls was a shelf that varied in width (0.4–1.0 m; height 0.6–1.2 m).

 

A total of 114 columbarium niches were hewn in the walls of the cave, arranged in 2–4 rows (Table 1) and mostly above the bedrock shelf, in accordance with the wall. The quarrying and outline of the columbaria were not uniform (0.1 × 0.2–0.3 × 0.4 m, depth 0.15–0.40 m). Some were rectangular, others were triangular or arched and the space between them also varied (mostly 0.2–0.5 m). Eleven, especially long, ‘ledge niches’ (length up to 3.5 m), whose height and depth were the same as the other columbarium niches, were above the rows of regular niches along the walls of the cave’s chambers.

Table 1: The distribution of the niches in the cave

Chamber No.

Wall

Number of Rows

Number of Columbarium Niches

53

North

Scattered

6

53

East

wall is destroyed

At least 12

53

South

4

24

55

North

3

20

55

South

4

23

55

East

4

9

55

West

3

11

57

A feeding installation for doves (0.75 × 1.20 m, 0.3 m high; Fig. 3) was exposed on the floor of the cave, in the eastern part of Chamber 55. It was built of two stone courses and its upper part was convex and plastered.

Two layers of fill were discerned in the cave: the upper one (L54; 3.5 m below surface) consisted of brown terra rossa soil, fieldstones and dressed stones, fragments of pottery vessels and a large quantity of modern refuse. The bottom layer (Loci 53, 57) included fine lighter color soil and potsherds. Between the layers of fill, at a depth of 3.5 m south of and below the cave’s opening, were two stone slabs (each 0.25 × 0.70 m; L59; Fig. 1) in situ, placed horizontally next to each other, which probably served as a base for a ladder, leading to the opening above.

 

The Finds consisted of pottery vessel fragments recovered from the floor of the cave, including a cooking pot from the first century BCE–first century CE (Fig. 4:1), jars from the third–second centuries BCE (Fig. 4:2–4, 15, 16), jars from the first century BCE–first century CE (Fig. 4:5–12, 17), a lamp from the second–first centuries BCE (Fig. 4:13) and a bowl from the third–second centuries BCE (Fig. 4:14). These are representative of the potsherds retrieved from the lower layer, including L59 (Fig. 4:14–17), which sealed it. Intact vessels were not found and most of the vessels were jars. The vessels are typical of Judean sites in the Hellenistic and the beginning of the Roman periods, particularly in the second and first centuries BCE.

 

Farming Terrace. Some 40 m northeast of the columbarium cave was a farming terrace covered with soil debris; a second system of farming terraces was built on the slope of the spur. Another farming terrace was discovered in the excavation (Fig. 5). It was preserved a maximum of three courses high (1.1 m) and exposed for a length of 4.5 m. The terrace was built of various-sized worked fieldstones (0.2 × 0.3 × 0.2–0.5 × 0.5 × 0.6 m). The base of the terrace was set in a bedrock-hewn recess on the slope. The middle part of the terrace consisted of a double row of stones. Based on the gradient of the slope it was estimated that the terrace had a maximum width of 5 m. 

Fragments of pottery vessels between the stones of the terrace and within the rock-hewn recesses dated from the second–first centuries BCE. They included jars (Fig. 6:1–7) and jugs (Fig. 6:8–10) similar to the potsherds from the columbarium cave and they too are characteristic of Judean sites in the Hellenistic period, especially during the Hasmonean reign.

 

Columbarium caves were dealt with at length by different scholars. Many caves were surveyed in the region of Judea and 32 were documented in the Jerusalem surveys (A. Kloner 2001. Survey of Jerusalem – The Southern Sector. Jerusalem; A. Kloner 2002. Survey of Jerusalem – The Northeastern Sector. Jerusalem). Doves were raised in columbarium caves for their by-products, the fertilizer used for farming and the meat that was consumed. The large number of such caves attests to the importance of this income source to the subsistence of the residents in the region.
The cave was situated in an agricultural area, inside one of the farming terraces. Two main advantages were to hewing the cave deep into bedrock. The first concerned preventing predators, such as snakes, from infiltrating into the cave and second was maintaining a constant temperature during the summer and winter.
The cave was accessed by a ladder. The bedrock-hewn ledge along the cave’s walls was meant for the convenience of the workers inside.
The finds from the bottom layer, which dated to the Hellenistic and Roman periods, could probably be explained as refuse discarded in the cave after it was no longer in use at the end of the Hasmonean-Herodian period. This is evidenced by the stone slabs that sealed the layer of accumulation and potsherds (Fig. 4:14–17). The dating of the cave’s hewing is uncertain; however, columbarium caves first appeared in the region during the Ptolemaic period in the third century BCE (Y. Tepper 1986. The Rise and Fall of Raising Doves in the Country. In Man and Land in Ancient Israel. A. Oppenheimer, A. Kasher and A. Rappaport (eds.). Jerusalem. Pp. 195–196). It is unclear whether the cave continued in its original use during this phase. The later deposits above the bottom layer prevent us from determining when activity ceased in the cave, the likes of which were used in the region until the second century CE (Ibid., 170–196).