Archaeologists find 1,500-yr-old winery in Israel
YAVNE: Israeli archaeologists have unearthed a massive ancient winemaking complex dating back some 1,500 years. The complex, discovered in the central town of Yavne, includes five wine presses, warehouses, kilns for producing clay storage vessels and tens of thousands of fragments and jars, they said.
Israel’s Antiquities Authority said the discovery shows that Yavne was a wine-making powerhouse during the Byzantine period. Researchers estimate the facility could produce some 2 million liters (over 520,000 gallons) of wine a year.
Jon Seligman, one of the directors of the excavation, said the wine made in the area was known as “Gaza” and “Ashkelon” wine, after the ports through which it was exported to Europe, North Africa and Asia Minor.
The researchers believe the Yavne location was the main production facility for the label.
“This was a prestige wine, a light white wine, and it was taken to many, many countries around the Mediterranean,” he said, including Egypt, Turkey, Greece and possibly southern Italy.
The complex is the size of a modern-day football field. The stone structures are so well preserved that it is still easy to visualise the wine-making process — from the platform where piles of grapes split open under their own weight, to the grape-stomping floor and collection basins. Dozens of intact wine jugs, made in large kilns on site and able to hold up to 25 litres, were also found.
Seligman said wine was not just an important export and source of enjoyment in ancient times. “Beyond that, this was a major source of nutrition and this was a safe drink because the water was often contaminated, so they could drink wine safely,” he said.
The antiquities authority said the complex was uncovered over the past two years during excavations being conducted as part of the development of Yavne, 30 kilometres south of Tel Aviv.
There are plans to make the complex a visitor attraction once preservation work is completed.