The Ruin (297) extends across c. 5 dunams on the hilltop. Remains of a modern building, surrounded by concentrations of large ashlar stones (0.30 × 0.40 × 1.95 m; 0.35 × 0.55 × 1.30 m) and stone clearance heaps (287, 453), were found. Various finds were dispersed in the area of the ruin, including roof tiles; a large quantity of various size, square and rectangular tesserae (Fig. 2); industrial tesserae that bear the remains of plaster, which point to their use in an installation that was not located; ceramic squares (2 × 2 cm) cut from roof tiles and worked basalt stones of different sizes. It seems that all these were used in the paving of buildings or installations. Dozens of tesserae of different types and sizes were counted in a 50 sq m area at Site 683; most were prepared from indigenous limestone rock and roof tiles. This concentration indicates that the tesserae were produced on site or they originated from a building or a large installation that was not found. The ruin is surrounded by caves and different installations, including a hewn basin (303) to the south of the ruin and a cist grave (300) to its west. Numerous ashlar stone quarries (see below) were documented on the northern and eastern slopes of the hill and potsherds that dated to the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman periods were collected.
The Farmhouse (Site 548; 20 × 30 m) was built along a shoulder of the hill’s northern spur. The northern and eastern walls, built of large ashlar stones, had survived of the structure. Remains of the opening in the center of the northern wall consisted of a threshold stone (length c. 1.5 m), a lintel and other ashlar stones nearby (Fig. 3). A cistern (549) was discerned in the middle of the building and concentrations of building stones and stone clearance heaps (538, 699) were found west and south of the farmhouse. Fragments of pottery vessels from the Late Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman periods and industrial tesserae, bearing remains of plaster, were recorded in the area of the building. A large cave that was partially collapsed (520) and a round structure (605; diam. c. 10 m) were close to the building, to whose south and east was a concentration of installations, including a hewn elliptical surface (584; 10 × 12 m), a cave (553), a hewn channel (591), a bodeda (647), cup marks (598, 610), tethering installations and ashlar stone quarries. North of the building was a tiny winepress and next to it were tethering installations and cupmarks (536), a rock-hewn game board (532), another tethering installation and ashlar stone quarries.
Buildings. A stone heap (269) on the northern part of the spur, which included a number of large fieldstones that were probably the remains of a dismantled ancient building, as well as a field tower (270; 3.8 × 3.8 m) whose opening was on the southern side, were documented. Near the buildings werequarries and a few potsherds from the Byzantine period.
Caves. Twenty-one caves (1, 6, 18, 56, 85, 98, 105, 179, 186, 240, 247, 275, 327, 402, 421, 422, 461, 521, 553, 565, 648), mostly discovered filled to their openings, were documented. Two of the caves were used for dwelling and storage until the present period and two others (6, 240; Fig. 4) were identified as burial caves from the Byzantine period, according to their plans.
Winepresses, Extracting Installations and Bodedot. Seventeen winepresses were located on the hill, among them a large winepress (61) with a large treading floor (3.5 × 3.5 m), a hewn recess for the press screw and a deep collecting vat (1.7 m). The rest of the winepresses (35, 36, 68, 110, 157, 160, 168, 177, 219, 264, 321, 333, 353, 405, 420, 554) were simple installations with mostly irregular treading floors and cupmarks, often located nearby. The relatively small collecting vat is usually next to the wide side of the treading floor (e.g., 157; Fig. 5). Simple winepresses with an elliptical treading floor (diam. c. 1 m) and a collecting vat were located alongside buildings (309, 310, 536). Bodedot and tiny extracting installations (536, 609), one of which was hewn in the treading floor of Winepress 61, were also recorded.
Olive Press-like Crushing Installations were present in the eastern (37)and northern parts (101) of the hill, close to other installations, such as winepresses, rock cuttings and tethering installations.
Cupmarks. Sixty-one cupmarks were documented, excluding those located alongside winepresses. Most were conical and had various diameters (depth 0.3 m) and a few were elliptical and shallow (e.g., 406). One of the cupmarks (647; diam. 0.26 m) was used as a collecting vat of a bodeda and in another (435; diam. 0.27 m) a tethering installation was hewn, negating the object’s use as a cupmark. Unidentified flint flakes were found while cleaning Cupmark 393. Seven clusters that included 2–5 cupmarks (a total of 26) were documented. Some were hewn in an obvious array, e.g., four cupmarks (average diam. 0.17 m) arranged in a square (50; Fig. 6) and five cupmarks (477; diam. 4–9 cm) arranged in an arch that extended along a bedrock terrace. Another cluster (598) consisted of four cupmarks, three large (diam. 0.23–0.25 m) and one small (diam. 8 cm).
Rectangular Rock-cuttings. Five rock-cuttings (136, 139, 268, 308, 374; max. length per side 0.3 m, depth c. 0.2 m) that may have been used to stand wooden beams were identified. A group of sixteen rectangular installations (337, 344, 346, 430, 440, 442, 443, 444, 541, 559, 560, 587, 588, 615, 637, 694; max. length per side 0.6 m, depth c. 0.3 m) was recorded. It had been suggested in the past that these were used as planting holes or vats for collecting rainwater because they were located alongside concentrations of tethering installations (e.g., 430; Fig. 7).
Tethering Installations. Some 360 tethering installations were identified; some were single units (289), some in pairs (83; Fig. 8) and some in clusters (111–122). These installations can be divided into four types according to the lengths of their perforations: short (516; length c. 0.15 m), medium (10; length c. 0.25 m), long (326; length c. 0.35 m) and very long (550; length c. 0.45 m). The perforations in the group of long tethering installations were cut in either a round (65) or square (454) shape. The tethering installations were hewn in isolated bedrock outcrops (552), near winepresses and installations (97, 98, 311), in the sides of quarries (90, 98), in the upper part of bedrock terraces (248, 250), alongside natural depressions (122) and even in cupmarks (435). The tethering installations were grouped in clusters of several dozen rock-cuttings, which were concentrated in a number of compounds near installations. Given this distribution, they were apparently used in agricultural activity, possibly for tethering and trellising crops, such as grapes, as opposed to the accepted theory that claims they were used to tie animals.
Quarries. Approximately 330 quarries were discovered, mostly at the top of the spur and on the northern and eastern slopes. Three types of quarries could be discerned: several lines of rock-cuttings and quarrying attempts that were incomplete; small quarries for a single stone and large clusters of quarries (diam. in excess of 5 m). Several quarries of the first two types were found on the northern spur and on the western and southern slopes. Rather large ashlar stones (0.5 × 0.5 × 0.7 m) were mostly hewn in the quarries. The stones (0.40 × 0.40 × 0.65 m) in Quarry 249, enclosed by wide, deep severance channels (width c. 0.12 m, depth up to 0.6 m), were in the process of being hewn.
Crosses. Eight bedrock-engraved crosses (length per side c. 0.25 m, depth and width of the stone carving c. 2 cm; Fig. 9) were documented; six were on the western slope and two—on the eastern one. The crosses were carved on bedrock surfaces (7, 398, 509), near winepresses (335, 368) and near caves (336, 403, 670). It is possible that the crosses were meant to designate ownership of cultivation plots or their boundaries.
Stone Fences and Enclosure Walls. Hundreds of meters of enclosure walls, built of medium and large fieldstones, were documented; sometimes stone clearance was placed on top of them. The walls crossed some of the quarries and the installations and several walls blocked cave openings. An enclosure wall was built on top of an earlier wall, probably from the Byzantine period, within the precincts of the farmhouse (548). An extensive system of enclosure walls was discerned on the northern spur, including a wall that ran for a distance of 600 m in a north–south direction and was abutted by walls from the east and west, which divided the hill area into large plots. Another system of walls was noted around the modern building at the top of the hill. The road that crosses the hill along the eastern and western slopes passed through the northern part of the enclosure. Plots were arranged along the road, including olive groves. Therefore, it seems that the system of enclosure walls was set up during the previous century.