Avdat is located in the Wilderness of Zin, about 50 miles south of Beersheba. The beautiful ruins were vandalized about three years ago. Six different Israeli ministries invested nearly $2 million to repair the damage. The city has been designated by UNESCO as a world’s cultural heritage site.
There are four wine presses at Avdat. The one I am showing below is a large Byzantine wine press.
Byzantine wine press at Avdat. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.
Murphy-O’Connor describes the winepress.
The winepress has a square treading area into which grapes were fed from small storage rooms on three sides. On the fourth side is a round pit into which the grape juice flowed via a channel under the treading floor from a central sump. – The Holy Land, 201.
The next photo shows the round pit.
The round pit into which the juice flowed. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.
I have never been able to take a group to Avdat, but I have made personal visits twice. See here and here.
For more information on the restoration see here.
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