 These are assumed to have been used for some form of agricultural processing.Macalister and Duncan speculated that they were used in olive oil processing.Edwin C. M. van den Brink, who notes that similar carved basins have been found at Beit Shemesh and near Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut, speculates that they may have been created by repeated grinding and crushing activity, such as the grinding of grain or the crushing of olives.