Wine production in the Bethlehem region (Palestine): a Reassessment in the light of new discoveries

Recent archaeological investigations in the Bethlehem region have providednew evidence for wine-production installations and for the environmental conditions favourable to viticulture. The winepresses documented at Khalet al-Jam’a and Asakra,together with comparable installations in the surrounding landscape, point especially to the importance of wine production during the Byzantine period. Earlier evidence, including Iron Age winepresses in the wider Bethlehem region and archaeobotanical data, may suggest deeper roots for viticulture, but does not yet allow the reconstruction of a fully structured Iron Age production system. The combined study of archaeological remains, topography, GIS-based analysis and palynological data therefore contributes to a diachronic, but chronologically differentiated, interpretation of the agro-economic landscape of Bethlehem.