I alerted my readers that a possible new excavation is being done there but it now seems that the site was just cleaned up, marked out and being rennovated for future visits. What does seem sure is that building was Roman (unless a future dig under the floor proves otherwise) and that the niche that serves as a direction for Muslim prayer was added later by breaking into the wall.
Photographs from this week's visit:-
Here is what piqued my interest as an amateur archaeologist. What was the purpose for what seems to be a large outside courtyard? We can observe that the soil was raised by having the west side (to the right in the picture below) level to the eastern side of the structure:
The work being done to strengthen the walls:
The view from the south:
View from the east looking north-west:
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