Archaeologists In Israel Have Discovered An Old Winemaking Facility

YAVNE, Israel — Israeli archaeologists said on Monday that they had discovered a huge 1,500-year-old winemaking facility.

Five wine presses, warehouses, kilns for manufacturing clay storage containers, and tens of thousands of pieces and jars were unearthed in the central town of Yavne, they added.

The find, according to Israel’s Antiquities Authority, proves that Yavne was a wine-making powerhouse throughout the Byzantine period. The plant may generate 2 million litres (about 520,000 gallons) of wine each year, according to researchers.

One of the excavation’s directors, Jon Seligman, claimed the wine produced in the area was known as “Gaza” wine and was exported across the region. The experts assume that the label’s main production site was in Yavne.

“This was a prestige wine, a light white wine,” he added, referring to Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and maybe southern Italy.

According to Seligman, wine was not just a valuable export and source of delight in ancient times. “Aside from that, wine was a key source of nourishment and a safe drink because the water was frequently polluted, so they could drink wine safely,” he explained.

The structure was discovered during excavations for the construction of Yavne, a town south of Tel Aviv, over the last two years, according to the antiquities department.