excavation
Roman mega-factory discovered: Huge plant produced 2 million liters of wine
The 75,000 square meter facility was located in the city’s “industrial area”
© Menahem Kahana / AFP
The empire was thirsty. An industrial winery has now been uncovered in Israel. The white wine that was made here was sold all over the Mediterranean.
A huge 1,500 year old wine factory was excavated in Israel. It dates from the time of Eastern Roman rule and is the largest winery that has ever been excavated. Two million liters were bottled there every year. The facility extends over 75,000 square meters. That would be a 75-meter-wide strip that extends over a kilometer.
Excavation before building
The site was explored for two years, later it will be developed for the expansion of the city of Yavne. The winery was an integrated factory producing almost everything needed to make wine. Archaeologists discovered five large wine presses, warehouses for aging and selling the wine, and even kilns to make the necessary clay vessels.
Photo gallery 6 pictures – Roman mega-factory
6 images
Export economy
Such mega-factories were typical of the Roman era. They were far too big for regional needs, they produced for export throughout the Mediterranean. The wine from Gaza or Ashkelon was a well-known “branded product” at the time. The name comes from the ports through which the amphorae were shipped and not from the location of the factory. Even before the large-scale winery was established, wine was produced on a smaller scale in the same place.
At the time when the factory was active, Constantinople was ruled by Emperor Justin I .. Yavne was a Christian city that also housed Jews and Samaritans. “In ancient times it was common for adults and children to drink wine,” say archaeologists Elie Haddad, Liat Nadav-Ziv and Dr. Jon Seligman.
“Since water was not always sterile or tasty, wine was also used as a kind of concentrate to improve the taste or as a substitute for drinking water.”
Large industrial plant
“We uncovered the industrial area of ancient Yavne here,” says Seligman. “We also found remains from other industries, such as the manufacture of glass and metal. We also found remains from other eras, such as a house from the 9th century and some other buildings from the transition period between the Byzantine and Islamic periods.”
Each of the five rooms with a wine press measures around 225 square meters, plus two large warehouses. “We were surprised to find such a sophisticated facility here that was used to produce wine in commercial quantities,” the team said. “In addition, decorative niches in the shape of a shell that adorned the winepresses show the great wealth of the factory owners. A calculation of the production capacity of these presses shows that around two million liters of wine were marketed every year. We should remember that the whole process was done manually. “
The wine was stored in typical amphorae, the so-called Gaza glasses. The jugs themselves were made in large kilns. “It was a light white wine,” says Seligman. “We found a lot of wine presses in Israel, but the unique thing here is that it is a collection of five huge wine presses that are particularly beautiful in their architecture.”
After the expulsion by Titus
The plant is only a few kilometers from the sea, and trade was carried out with ships. This proximity to the sea made it one of the most important wine-making centers in the ancient world. For a long time Israel was a client state of the Roman Empire, whose rulers tried to maneuver through the dangers of the Roman civil war. Tensions arose again and again between the religiously indifferent Romans and the Jews, whose strict monotheism rejected the customs of foreign masters. Finally there was an uprising, which was bloodily suppressed by the Romans. Under the later emperor Titus, Jerusalem was founded in AD 70. conquered and the temple looted. The emperors used the temple treasures to build the Colosseum, among other things. The rebellious Jews were driven out and sold into slavery.