During October–November 2004, a salvage excavation was conducted at Giv‘at ‘Ada (Permit No. A-4272*; map ref. NIG 20171–80/71407–22; OIG 15171–80/21407–22). The excavation, carried out on behalf of the Antiquities Authority and funded by the A.A. Ha-Shalom Company and the Industrial Buildings Company, Ltd., was directed by A. Massarwa, assisted by A. Hajian (surveying and drafting).
The excavation was conducted along the eastern fringes of the settlement, above a steep slope on the southeastern edge of Ramot Menashe.
Two areas (A, B) were opened, revealing quarries and a limekiln. Previous archaeological excavations that had been conducted nearby (
HA-ESI 118) exposed remains that dated to the Roman and Byzantine periods, as well as sections of a Roman road, to the northeast of the current excavation (License No. B-250/2002).
Area A. Small rock-cuttings were discerned along almost every chalk bedrock outcrop, as well as 27 quarries of the small courtyard type and stepped quarries. The asymmetrical quarries, whose hewing exploited most of bedrock surface, occurred in a variety of sizes and depths. Stones that were not extracted were discerned in some and severance channels for the purpose of detaching the stones with the aid of wooden or iron rods were noted in others. No artifacts that could assist in dating the quarries were found.
Area B. A circular limekiln (inner diam. 2.4 m, outer diam. 3.1 m, depth 1.9 m; Fig. 1) was excavated. Its western side was entirely bedrock hewn, as was its lower part (L201; depth 1 m). The upper part, built of dry fieldstone construction utilizing different sized stones (L202), was preserved four courses high. On the northern side of the kiln, between the hewn and built parts, was a ventilation opening (diam. 0.3 m). The stoke hole was located in the northwestern side of the installation (preserved height 0.4 m). The kiln’s ceiling apparently collapsed and nothing was preserved of it. In the absence of any finds it was impossible to date the kiln.