Area F, excavated in the 2006 season, consisted of a small building, about 6.5 meters by 9 meters, with a single occupation phase. Located inside the walls of the fortress, the area was opened to obtain an understanding of activities within the compound. Excavations revealed a courtyard associated with six smaller rooms or cells. The courtyard yielded two large ground stone basins along with metallurgical bellow pipes, copper objects, hammerstones, and prills. Based on the excavations, the Area F building was most likely used for refining or melting copper, rather than primary smelting copper from ores. Dated to the 10th-9th centuries BCE, the small building corresponds with the second phase of the Area A gatehouse.
