Abstract
Despite the importance of wine in the Iron Age Mediterranean, known structures associated with its production are rare. Recent excavations at Phoenician Tell el-Burak have now revealed the first Iron Age wine press in Lebanon. Its remarkable state of preservation enables a systematic study of its plaster to be made as well as a comparison with two other plastered installations at the site. Archaeometric analyses offer new data concerning the composition and technology of Iron Age lime-plaster production, confirming the existence of a local and innovative tradition of plaster production in southern Phoenicia. These results contribute to the wider discussion of Phoenician technology in the broader Iron Age Mediterranean.
Highlights
The socio-economic and ritual value of wine in antiquity has been repeatedly emphasised, often in relation to feasting activities or the ceramic containers supposedly used for its transport (e.g. McGovern 2003; Dietler 2006: 233–34)
Discussions surrounding the spread of wine consumption commonly assign a primary role to the Phoenicians—the Iron Age inhabitants of coastal Central Levant (Sader 2019: xii–xiv), who founded new settlements in many Central and Western Mediterranean areas after the late ninth century BC
Despite numerous hypotheses implying that the Phoenicians were key agents in the proliferation of wine, it is notable that evidence of winemaking in Phoenicia itself was, until recently, scarce
Summary
Phoenician lime for Phoenician wine: Iron Age plaster from a wine press at Tell el-Burak, Lebanon. Recent excavations at Phoenician Tell el-Burak have revealed the first Iron Age wine press in Lebanon. Archaeometric analyses offer new data concerning the composition and technology of Iron Age lime-plaster production, confirming the existence of a local and innovative tradition of plaster production in southern Phoenicia. Despite numerous hypotheses implying that the Phoenicians were key agents in the proliferation of wine, it is notable that evidence of winemaking in Phoenicia itself was, until recently, scarce This scenario has changed as a result of recent excavations at the coastal site of Tell el-Burak (Figure 1), 9km south of Sidon in Lebanon, which have provided. It is thought—based on preliminary analysis of associated ceramics—that all three installations were probably constructed during the seventh century BC or, in the case of the wine
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