Image Details

Tel Miqne/Ekron Excavation Project, Photo: D. Guthrie

The booming olive-oil industry at Tel Miqne—believed to be Philistine Ekron—left behind more than 100 olive presses, one of which appears here (compare with drawing of oil press). The output from these presses undoubtedly exceeded local consumption. Olive oil was probably a major export item that contributed to the wealth of the Philistine cities as well as to Israel and Judah in the eighth century B.C.E.