Egypt

Byzantine wine press found in Sinai

Egypt State Information Service

Culture Minister Farouk Hosney announced 1/6/2008 the discovery of the remains of rocky wine press from the Byzantine era during the digging works of the antiquity delegation affiliated to the Supreme Council for Antiquities in Sail al-Toffaha in the south of Sinai.

The Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Antiquities Zahi Hawas said that the press consists of two parts made of local rocks covered with a rose layer, and ends by a red pipe made of burnt pottery.

There's a bit more on the El Universal website:

El lagar, construido con bloques de roca, está compuesto de dos tinas: una cuadrada recubierta con una capa de cemento de color rosado, y otra circular. Ambas cuentan con cañerías de barro quemado por donde discurría el vino, precisa la nota.

Los arqueólogos descubrieron también un conjunto de vasijas y cántaros de cerámica que eran usados para almacenar el vino, además de las ruinas de dos salas construidas de roca y que eran usadas por los trabajadores del lugar para descansar.

Hace siete años, expertos egipcios descubrieron los vestigios de un lagar y una bodega de la época romana en un lugar muy próximo a la costa mediterránea egipcia, en el delta del Nilo.

Egipto formó parte del Imperio Bizantino entre los años 328 y 640 antes de cristo.

Please bear in mind that I am not trying to develop a career as a translator, but basically the above says that the press was formed of two stone blocks, one squared off which is surmounted by a circular block. Both release the wine via ceramic pipes which are burned at the point where the wine runs off. The archaeologists also discovered a set of ceramic containers and pitchers that were used to store the wine, besides the ruins of two rock-cut rooms that were used by the workers as a place of rest. Seven years ago, Egyptian experts discovered the remains of a press and a warehouse both dating to the Roman era in a vicinity close to the Egyptian Mediterranean coast, in the Nile delta.

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