During December 2006, a salvage excavation was conducted at Lehavim (Permit No. A-4979; map ref. 18133–42/58653–68), prior to expansion. The excavation, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and underwritten by the Industrial Buildings Corporation, Ltd., was directed by V. Nikolsky-Carmel, with the assistance of S. Gendler (area supervision), H. Lavi (administration), V. Essman (surveying), T. Sagiv (field photography), T. Kornfeld (drafting), I. Lidski-Reznikov (pottery drawing) and F. Sonntag and N.S. Paran.
The site is located in the northwestern part of Lehavim. Wall remains were discerned on the surface prior to the excavation. Four excavation squares were opened in the vicinity of the walls and a rectangular building (6.1×8.0 m; Figs. 1, 2) that dated to the Ottoman period was exposed.
The walls (width 0.6 m) of the structure, set on foundations of wadi pebbles, were built of roughly hewn chalk stones and preserved 0.7 m high. An entrance threshold was discovered in the center of the eastern wall (W53). A pillar (W55; length c. 0.8 m), also built of roughly hewn chalk stones, was inside the building in the middle of the northern wall (W52). The pillar was apparently meant to support the ceiling. The tamped earth floor of the building was overlain with numerous iron fragments and black Gaza ware potsherds that dated to the Ottoman period, including bowls (Fig. 3:1–3) and jars (Fig. 2:4–7). Soil fill and stones accumulated in the building and no collapse was discerned; therefore, it seems that the walls were robbed. The structure was apparently used as a dwelling.