During the past year two seasons of excavation were conducted in two sites in the settlement of Giv’at Bar: the “watchman’s booth (Area B) and the “farm” (Area A). During the excavation it became clear that the watchman’s booth (Area B) is a farmhouse composed of a main room divided in two, and a number of rooms and other open spaces around it. It seems that the farmhouse was at first a watchman’s booth that was enlarged over time. The main room was partly paved with river pebbles and in the wall dividing the room was a window lined with smoothed stone slabs. In the northwestern corner of the room was an installation built of dressed limestone slabs. Since the excavation has not concluded it is not yet possible to present a full plan of the building; however, it seems to extend across of an area of c. 20 x 25 m.


It was ascertained that the ‘farm’ in Area A was a monastery. It is a built complex consisting of a main building (c. 20 x 20 m) which rose to a height of two stories and a service wing (c. 35 x 35 m) in which storehouses and a water cistern were found, and there was probably also a wine press, goat pen and other service installations.
The main building was composed of a central courtyard that was entered from the east by way of an opening above which a staircase was built. At least one room was built south of the staircase; however, it seems that there were other rooms. In a room that was excavated was an entrance with an arched-shaped lintel and a closet in its eastern wall.


North of the courtyard were three rooms that were arranged in a row east – west. The entrance from the courtyard led to the middle room that was the chapel of the monastery and which was paved with a mosaic. West of the chapel was a room that probably served as a storeroom/a room for religious objects.


An entrance from the chapel opened to the east in the center of the wall; it led to a room that was paved with flagstones in which there were two rectangular outlines (0.7 x 1.7 m) that probably designate tombs located beneath under the pavement. In the eastern side of the room was the apse, which was paved with a white mosaic. Between the mosaic floor of the apse and the flagstone floor were two recesses in the floor where chancel posts stood. In the mosaic floor of the chapel was a Greek inscription, viewed from west to east, with a cross above it opposite the eastern opening and a decorated carpet below it toward the west.


The decoration includes two peacocks facing each other with an amphora between them. A grape vine emerging from the amphora forms five medallions in two rows. In the bottom row is a donkey (or hare) in the right medallion and two baskets with grapes (or loaves of bread) in the left medallion. In the upper row one can discern a bird whose head is lowered (above the donkey) and a fish above the baskets and in the middle between them is an image of a person at prayer.