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Atiqot 114 (2024)
ISBN 2948-040X
Iron Age II and Persian-Period Wine Production in Southern Samaria: New Data from Archaeological Surveys
(Pp. 23–45)
Aharon Tavger
Keywords: Iron Age, Persian period, winepress, winery, Samaria, Assyrian conquest, Northern Kingdom, ancient economy, agricultural specialization, landscape archaeology
New evidence for Iron Age II and Persian-Period wine production in southern Samaria, including many winepresses and bell-shaped winery pits, has recently come to light, expanding our knowledge and revising some of our understandings concerning this phenomenon. While it was widely accepted that industrial wine production during these periods was confined to central Judah, in Jerusalem’s environs, it is now clear that wine was also produced throughout the southern Samaria region, particularly on the desert fringes. Some of these wine-production sites seemingly functioned already during Iron Age IIB, under Northern Kingdom control, while some of the sites also operated under Assyrian control following the conquest of Samaria, and even continued under the Persian administration.