Tel Miqne-Ekron Olive Oil Installations
The extensive presses provide unusually clear physical evidence of Philistine economic life. They show that Ekron was a major olive-oil manufacturing center in the late Iron Age.
About the Discovery
Excavations at Tel Miqne, the site of ancient Ekron, uncovered a remarkable industrial district devoted to making olive oil. Archaeologists identified 115 production units, with stone crushing basins, presses, weights, and storage areas. Workers crushed olives and pressed the pulp to extract oil on a scale far beyond the needs of individual households.
The installations show how Ekron became an important production center during the seventh century BC, when Philistine cities operated within the political and economic world of the Assyrian Empire. The remains document industry and trade, but they do not reveal the names of individual workers or merchants.
Scripture Reference
Joshua 13:3; 1 Samuel 5:10; Jeremiah 25:20 (references to Ekron and Philistia, not to these installations).