Remains of a byzantine and early islamic rural settlement at the Be'er Sheva north train station

Two areas were excavated, uncovering the remains of four buildings (Buildings 100, 200, 300 and 400). Building 100, a watchtower, was probably erected during the Byzantine period. Building 300, a farmhouse, included a kitchen, in which two ovens were constructed; numerous pottery vessels date the building to the late Byzantine and Early Islamic periods. The building also yielded fragments of glass vessels, a fragment of a small iron pruning-knife and archaezoological finds. Building 400, the corner of a farmhouse, included pottery from the end of the Byzantine period. Building 200, probably from the beginning of the Early Islamic period, included Umayyad coins, as well as an iron tang. The buildings are the remains of a rural settlement characteristic of southern Israel and the Be'er Sheva' Valley during the Byzantine and Early Islamic periods.