Sensation in Yavne: A large and well-planned industrial area from the Byzantine period, with a very impressive wine production plant, the largest known in the world from the period, has been unveiled in Yavne during the last two years.
The rare find was discovered in a huge excavation conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority as part of the Israel Land Authority's initiative to expand the city.
The plant includes five magnificent wine cellars, warehouses for aging and marketing the wine, kilns for burning the pottery jars in which the liquids were stored, tens of thousands of fragments of pottery jars and jars that were found intact and also neat access routes between the facilities.
Drinking wine was very common in ancient times, for children and adults alike.
A 1,600-year-old mosaic discovered in excavations.
"We were surprised to discover an elaborate factory here," Photo: Assaf Peretz Israel Antiquities Authority
Since the water was not always sterile and tasty, wine was also used as a kind of "concentrate" to improve the taste, or as a substitute for drinking water.
Each of the exposed winepresses covered an area of about 225 sq.m.
"The discovery indicates the great wealth of the factory owners"
Dr. Eli Hadad, Liat Nadav-Ziv and Dr. Yochanan (John) Seligman, the directors of the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said: "We were surprised to discover a sophisticated factory here, which was used to produce wine in commercial quantities. "Who decorated the winepresses, and point to the great wealth of the factory owners."
A 1,600-year-old mosaic discovered in excavations.
"Mega-excavation of the Israel Antiquities Authority", Photo: Assaf Peretz IAA
The excavation in Yavneh revealed rare, even older winepresses - from the Persian period - about 2,300 years ago.
"In the Mishnah it is said that after the destruction of Jerusalem the Jewish leadership migrated to Yavneh, and that the sages of Yavneh lived in the vineyard and studied Torah. The wine industry has been on site for many centuries, "the archaeologists added.
Eli Escozido, director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said: "The Yavneh excavation is a mega-excavation of the Israel Antiquities Authority, covering tens of dunams, with the participation of hundreds of workers and dozens of permanent staff and experts. "Preparatory work and the residents of Yavneh. Our archaeologists are doing sacred work by exposing unknown chapters in the history of the country, while working hard in the heat and cold."
A 1,600-year-old mosaic discovered in excavations, Photo: Assaf Peretz Israel Antiquities Authority