Byzantine-era wine press discovered in Nahal Sorek area

Archeologist: Wine made in octangonal 1400 year old press was probably exported to Egypt or Europe.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
wine press archeology 311 (photo credit: AP)
wine press archeology 311
(photo credit: AP)
Israeli archaeologists said Monday that they've discovered an unusually shaped 1,400-year-old wine press that was exceptionally large and advanced for its time.
The octagonal press measures 6.5 meters by 16.5 meters and was discovered near Kibbutz Hafetz Haim in the Nahal Sorek area, about 40 kilometers south of both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
"What we have here seems to be an industrial and crafts area of a settlement from the sixth to seventh century, which was situated in the middle of an agricultural region," said excavation director Uzi Ad of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
During this period, the whole area was part of the Byzantine Empire — the eastern half of the old Roman Empire.
"The size of the wine press attests to the fact that the quantity of wine that was produced in it was exceptionally large and was not meant for local consumption," Ad said in a release.
The wine was probably intended for export to Egypt, then a major export market, or to Europe, he said.
An identical wine press was previously uncovered 20 kilometers away, north of Ashkelon, he added.
The shape of the press' collecting vats was impractical because sediment would collect in the corners, Ad noted. They must have been built in this manner, and not in the customary circular or square shape, for aesthetic reasons, he concluded.
"This is a complex wine press that reflects a very high level of technology for this period, which was acquired and improved on from generation to generation," he said.
The entire apparatus originally measured 15 meters by 16.5 meters and included a central treading floor with a mosaic pavement where the grapes would be trod on. The juice produced from the grapes would flow from the treading floor to a distributing vat and from there through holes into two collecting vats located on either side, he said.
Rectangular surfaces originally paved with a mosaic floor were alsodiscovered around the treading floor. The grapes were probably placedthere before being trod on, and the initial fermentation of the grapeswould sometimes begin there, he said.
Eli Eskozido, head of the Nahal Sorek Regional Council, where the presswas discovered, said the site would be conserved and opened to thepublic.