Excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) at a site near the town of Netivot, southern Israel have revealed a Byzantine-era settlement dating back to the 6th and 7th centuries CE.
“One of the most impressive finds is a sophisticated wine press that was used to commercially produce wine,” said Dr Ilan Peretz of the IAA.
“First, the grapes were pressed,” he described the process. “Then the juice was funneled through canals to a pit where the sediment settled.”
“From there, the wine was piped into vats lined with stone and marble, where it would ferment until it was stored in clay bottles called Gaza jugs, hundreds of which have been found at the site.”
The IAA team also unearthed the remains of a workshop and various buildings.
“Fragments of marble latticework in the form of a cross and flowers indicate the existence of a public building,” Dr Peretz and his colleagues said.
Other finds from the site include clay cups, oil candles and seals.
“On the basis of a cross etched into seashells adorning one of the vats of the wine press, we determined that the site served the Christian community living there 1,400-1,500 years ago,” the archaeologists said.