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TomaszWaliszewski
approachfocusedontherapidlyvanishing
evidenceoftheoliveoilindustryrooteddeeply
intheOttomantradition.Someremarkable
archaeologicaldiscoveriesfollowed,bringing
to
light
an
astonishing
oil
industry
unparalleledintheregionattheIronAge
siteofTelMiqne–Ekron.Inspiredbythese
discoveries,DavidEitamandMichaelHeltzer
organizedinHaifain1987aconferenceon
oliveoilinantiquity,whichgatheredsome
fiftyparticipants.Thirtypaperswerelater
published,presentingforthefirsttimeinsuch
acomprehensivewayawiderangeofsubjects,
fromthedomesticationoftheolivetreeand
differentaspectsofitscultivation,through
oilproductioninancientEgypt,Syriaand
Mesopotamia,CyprusandSpain,toissues
includingtheoilindustryinIronAgeIsrael,
aswellasHellenisticandRoman-agePalestine
(OliveOilinAntiquity[1987];manyofthe
paperspublishedin1987wereagainpresented
inOliveOilinAntiquity[1996]).
Theprogramofarchaeologicalsurveysin
Israelinthe1970sinspiredregularresearchon
oilproductioninthecountry.RafaelFrankel
benefitedfromhisinvolvementinasurvey
coveringtheUpperandWesternGalileeto
gatheraconsiderableamountofdatapertaining
directlytooilproductioninGalilee,butalso
inotherregionsofPalestine.Hisarduouswork
enabledhimtopresentin1984athesison
wineandoilproductionduringtheHellenistic,
RomanandByzantineperiod(Frankel1984).
Afewmagisterialpublicationswrittenlater
werecrownedbyabookthatremainsamajor
contributiontoourknowledgeofwineandoil
productiontechniquesinRomano–Byzantine
Palestine(Frankeletalii1994;Frankel1997;
1999).Frankeldecidedtopresentevidencefor
wineandoilmakingtogether,startingrightly
withsimplerock-cutinstallationsthatwere
ofteninterpretedasservingbothpurposes.
Thebookreviewedoilandwineproduction
aroundtheMediterraneanandwentonto
presenttypologicalandtechnologicalstudies
of
weights,
crushing
basins,
lever-and-
screwpresses,direct-pressureinstallations.
Ageographicaldistributionoftypesenabled
amappingofthedifferencesbetweenregions,
remaininginsharpcontrastwiththepaucity
ofchronologicaldata,hinderedbythenature
ofevidence,derivingmostlyfromsurveys
andrarelyfromcontrolledstratigraphical
excavations.Ofextraordinaryfactographical
importancearethreelistsincludedindigitized
formonaCD,whichareseldomusedby
specialistsinthefield,intimidatedperhapsby
thevolumeoftheinformation.Fruitoflong
labor,thesedocumentsprovidelistsofsites
andinstallationsaccordingtogeographical
distribution,typeandalphabeticalorder.
MeanwhileChaimBen-Davidpublished
hissurveyofoliveoilfacilitiesintheJaulan
(BenDavid1998)andYitzhakMagen
presentedanextensivepanoramaofrecent
discoveriespertainingtooilproductionin
earlyIslamicJudeaandSamaria,whichhad
beenknownpoorlyuntilthen(Magen2008a).
ResearchonoilproductioninPalestine
isongoing,constantlybringingtoscholarly
attention
new
important
discoveries.
Amultitudeofnewsitesbearingtracesof
oilproduction,manyofthemexcavated
thusgivingmorereliablechronologicaldata,
werepresentedinaseriesofbriefbutrich
incontentreportscollectedbyEtanAyalon,
RafaelFrankelandAmosKloner(Oiland
WinePresses2009).30
Thecontributionofarchaeologyto
thestudyofoilproductioninJordanand
Lebanonislimited,ifnotmarginal,thus
beinginstarkcontrastwiththesituation
ofarchaeologyinPalestine.Onlyafewoil
presseswereexcavatedinthesecondhalfof
the20thcentury,e.g.,Khirbetel-Dharih,
andsomewereidentifiedduringasurvey
butnosynthesisofthedatahasbeenmade
availableyet(notablyKAbuDayyeh2004;
Waliszewski2009).31Similarly,Lebanon
coveringsubstantialpartsoftwolateantique
provinces
of
Phoenicia
Maritima
and
PhoeniciaLibanensis,offereduntilrecently
³0Ofthe74papersincludedinthisbook,atleast44dealtwithoilproduction.Someofthepaperswerebasedonpreviousresearch,
butmanyreporteddiscoveriesmadeduringthe1990sandlateron,butneverpublished.
³¹AfewexampleswerealsocitedinFrankel1999:ListC(onCD).
58
PAMMonographSeries6
