The foundation was aligned north–south and built of dressed kurkar bonded with hamra and gray mortar mixed with lime inclusions (L100; 0.5 × 2.6 × 5.5 m; Figs. 2, 3); it was preserved three courses high. Collapsed and broken kurkar stones, aligned east–west (L103; 0.70 × 1.35 m) and originating in the foundation located to the west, were exposed. East of the foundation, two cooking pot handles (Fig. 4:1, 2) and the rim of a handmade bowl (Fig. 4: 3) were found in brown sandy soil fill mixed with modern debris (L101) that originated from the construction work carried out near the excavation area. The handles are made of gray clay mixed with mica and are decorated with thin incised lines and small holes perforated by a sharp object prior to firing in a kiln. Such vessels were first produced in the Mamluk period and continued to be manufactured during the Ottoman period as well. Several fragments of a jug belonging to the gray and black Gaza ware, characteristic of finds in the Ottoman period, were also found in the fill. A coin, minted in Jerusalem in 29–30 CE by the procurator during the reign of Emperor Tiberius (IAA 140950), was found amongst the stones while cleaning the upper surface of the foundation.


The foundation of a building was exposed in the excavation; the shape and nature of the structure are unclear. Based on the style of the foundation’s construction, the mortar used to bond the stones and the meager potsherds that were found in the fill abutting it, the structure is dated to the Late Ottoman period. The location of the foundation in an area that was previously used for orchards belonging to the Arab village of Sheikh Munis, whose core was situated east of the excavation area, suggests that the foundation was part of a building connected with operating the orchards. The village was established in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century CE and was abandoned during the War of Independence in 1948.