Ancient Wine Factory Unearthed in Yavne Reveals Historical Treasures

In the past two years, an enormous and well-planned industrial area from the Byzantine era has been uncovered in the city of Yavne. This site includes an impressive wine production facility—the largest of its time ever discovered. The excavation is being conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority as part of a project to expand Yavne, supported by the Israel Land Authority.

The 1,500-year-old factory includes five elaborate winepresses, storage rooms for aging and marketing the wine, kilns for firing the clay jars used for storage, tens of thousands of pottery fragments and intact jars, organized access roads between the facilities, and more.

According to the Israel Antiquities Authority, wine consumption was very common in ancient times among both children and adults. Since water wasn't always safe or tasty, wine was used as a sort of concentrate to improve taste or as a substitute for drinking water.

Each of the exposed winepresses covered an area of about 225 square meters. Around the treading floor, where workers would barefoot crush the grapes to extract juice, were vats for fermenting the wine, beside two octagonal collection pools.

Octagonal collection pools for the wine (Photo: Yaniv Berman, Israel Antiquities Authority)

Dr. Elie Haddad, Liat Nadav-Ziv, and Dr. Jon Seligman, the excavation directors for the Israel Antiquities Authority, stated: "We were surprised to discover here a sophisticated factory used for massive wine production. The highlight of the winepresses are the shell-shaped niches adorning the presses, indicating the wealth of the factory owners. A rough calculation of the production capacity suggests that about 2 million liters of wine were marketed annually. This is a huge quantity, even by today's standards, and all production was manual back then."

Among the winepresses, four large warehouses were found, functioning as the winery's cellar. The wine aged in elongated amphorae known as 'Gaza jars.' These jars, some complete and others in tens of thousands of pieces, were produced on site in large kilns.

"'Gaza and Ashkelon wine' was recognized as the quality wine brand of the ancient world, somewhat analogous to Israel's famous JAFFA oranges," added the archaeologists. "The vessels and wine produced in Yavne gained international fame and reached Europe and Africa. Everyone knew it was an Israeli product, and everyone wanted more and more of this delight. The wine mostly was white, named after the Gaza and Ashkelon ports through which it was marketed. Until now, there have been other sites known for wine production in the southern coastal plain, but it seems we have found the main production center of this prestigious wine. From here, commercial quantities were sent to the ports and from there, across the Mediterranean basin or the ancient world."

Eli Eskosido, Director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, noted: "The Yavne excavation is a mega excavation by the Israel Antiquities Authority, spanning several dozens of dunams, with hundreds of workers and dozens of regular staff and experts. As an organization aiming to connect the public with the country's heritage, we involve hundreds of youth, pre-military students, and the residents of Yavne in the excavation. Our archaeologists are doing a sacred job by uncovering unknown chapters of the country's story, working diligently in heat and cold. I commend the cooperation with the Israel Land Authority and Yavne Municipality, which will enable the presentation of some of the impressive archaeological findings to the broader public and integrate them into an archaeological park."

Yavne Mayor, Zvi Gov-Ari, stated: "The impressive findings strengthen the recognition of Yavne's importance and its glorious past across all periods. We have determined that Tel Yavne will be preserved and will serve in the coming years as a highlight and an educational and tourist destination for many visitors. The building plans will be adjusted so that the road expected to run through the site will be upgraded to a bridge, allowing the site's continuation."