Massive Byzantine-era winery discovered in Israel

[Jilly_in_VA]

Near a soccer pitch and a suburban neighborhood in central Israel, archaeologists say they discovered the world's largest known Byzantine-era winery.

The winery, dating back 1,500 years, is believed to have produced one of the finest white wines of the Mediterranean at the time. It was widely praised in Byzantine-era literature and known as vinum Gazetum or Gaza wine because it was exported from the ancient port city near modern-day Gaza.

Archeologists found a large complex of five winepresses, four large warehouses where the wine was aged, kilns where the clay wine jugs were fired, and tens of thousands of broken pieces of jugs.

They estimate the winery produced between two to three million liters of wine a year.

https://www.npr.org/2021/10/11/1045048469/massive-byzantine-era-winery-discovered-in-israel

[Karadeniz]

1. One wonders how anything of such a size and important product was ever left and buried.

Oh...Byzantine. Perhaps the Muslims let it go since they're not supposed to imbibe alcohol.

[Jilly_in_VA]

2. Maybe they went bankrupt

Or who knows? Israel has the misfortune of "being in the way" of a lot of military powers on their way to somewhere else. The armies couldn't always be bothered with the locals so they overran them.