Antipatris

The oldest winepresses ever found in the southern Levant sit beside an Egyptian governor's house at Tel Afek.

historicalengineering

The oldest winepresses ever found in the southern Levant are here, and they were built around the thirteenth century BC, in the reign of Ramesses the Second. There are two of them, plastered, each with a pair of treading floors side by side. Underneath sat stone-lined collection vats that could hold three thousand litres of pressed grape juice apiece. Canaanite storage jars were still standing at the bottom of the pits when archaeologists reached them. Next to the installations lay a heap of grape skins and seeds, the leftovers of the pressing. What makes them odd is where they are. Winepresses normally sat out in the countryside among the vines. These were built right up against the residence of an Egyptian governor, which suggests the Egyptian administration kept a close eye on the winemakers of the Sharon plain. Inside that same residence, excavators found a set of cuneiform tablets.

This is the first of 3 parts. The rest runs about 3 minutes and is read to you as you drive past. Hear the whole piece.

What this was written from
The earliest winepresses discovered to date in the Southern Levant were excavated adjoining the governor's residency at Tel Aphek, dated to the 13th century BC, the reign of Ramesses II.

Written from Wikipedia, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Nearby, on the same roads

  • Qula 4.9 mi A defense tower still standing here was built by Crusader knights, out of stones taken from something older still.
  • Bar-Ilan University 5.8 mi Israel's second-largest university was dreamed up at a meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.
  • Tel Aviv Museum of Art 8.6 mi Israel's Declaration of Independence was signed inside what was then this art museum.
  • Apollonia–Arsuf 9.6 mi A Mamluk sultan besieged this coastal castle for forty days, nearly died in its moat, then wiped the town off the map for good.
  • Battle of Arsuf 9.6 mi A Muslim eyewitness watched Crusader foot soldiers walk on with up to ten arrows sticking out of their armoured backs, apparently unhurt.
  • Tel Hadid 9.8 mi Two clay tablets found on this hill record business deals from 698 and 664 BCE, and the names on them belong to people deported here from Mesopotamia.