A very deep, medium-sized courtyard-type quarry (9.7 × 13.7 m, max. depth 3.8 m; Fig. 2; Safrai and Sasson 2001:4) was excavated. The stones produced were all of similar size (average dimensions 0.36 × 0.36–0.60 × 0.60 m). The severance channels (upper width 0.10–0.13 m, lower width 0.03–0.04 m; Figs. 3, 4) had a trapezoidal-shaped cross-section. Their dimensions corresponded to those of the stones that had been hewn in the quarry but were not detached. Diagonal chisel marks (width 1–2 cm, depth 0.5 cm; Fig. 5) were visible on the walls of the quarry. The quarry had straight walls on its western side; there were eight quarrying steps in its eastern and southern parts that descended toward the center of the quarry. Two layers of accumulation were evident: an upper layer of dark brown alluvium (depth 0.5–1.0 m), and below that a layer of quarrying debris composed of light brown sediment and many white limestone chips (average size 2–7 × 5–10 cm). The debris layer extended down to the quarry’s floor (L100), upon which were compacted calcareous encrustations. The quarrying chips became smaller towards the floor, where they were extremely small (average size 1 × 2 cm). These layers were removed by mechanical equipment except for one square (L101; 4 sq m), in the western side, that was manually excavated. Only the northern half of the quarry was excavated (Fig. 6). The ceramic finds were scant and could not be dated.
 
The method of producing stones and the outline of the quarry indicate knowledge, prior planning and organization which permitted several groups of laborers to work simultaneously. Normally it is difficult to date quarries because the techniques employed in rock-cutting were similar in every period (Safrai and Sasson 2002:2). This quarry and the others that were excavated and surveyed in the region were meant to supply building stones to Jerusalem and possibly also to other sites in the city’s northern outskirts near the quarries, such as Khirbet Hawanit, Khirbet Magharam and Kh. ‘Addasa (‘Adawi 2007). Despite the meager finds, this quarry can be associated with the adjacent quarries that were dated to the Roman and Byzantine periods (second–sixth centuries CE).