Ram-shaped teapot from ancient Canaanite cult discovered near ancient city of Armageddon
During excavations near the ancient city of Armageddon in Israel, archaeologists discovered a 3,300-year-old Canaanite “tea set,” a temple the size of a dollhouse and one of the oldest known wine presses in the world.
The tea set includes a ram-shaped teapot and some small bowls buried together in the late Bronze Age. The ram’s head, molded into the beak, would have been tilted forward so that liquid would flow from its mouth.
Animals such as sheep, donkeys and goats were highly prized in Canaan, proof showing that during part of the Egyptian Old Kingdom (ca. 2649 to 2150 BC), some of these animals were bred in Egypt and then imported into Canaan, some of them for sacrificial goals.
The Canaanites likely buried the teapot and bowls as ritual offerings, according to the release. Archaeologists discovered the tea set near Megiddo, also known as Armageddon, before a road was built in the Jezreel Valley.
Other Canaanite cult offerings discovered in several small pits during excavations included storage jars and jugs imported from Cyprus. These artifacts were likely buried by local people, such as farmers who could not enter the city or the nearby Canaanite temple of Tel Megiddo (“Tel” means hill). Instead, they may have chosen to bury these offerings, and possibly agricultural produce, on a rock outcropping that could have served as an outdoor altar, according to the release.
The buried mini-temple, made of ceramic, is also 3,300 years old. “This is what real Canaanite Bronze Age temples might have looked like,” Amir Golanione of the directors of the IAA excavations at the site, said in a translated video.
Excavations at Armageddon
People have lived in Megiddo since around 7,000 BC. Many battles took place there over the years, and the Book of Revelation, which calls the site Armageddonpredicted that the final battle at the end of time would take place there.
Excavations reveal artifacts from two different periods at Megiddo: one from the Early Bronze Age (or Early Canaanite Period), about 5,000 years ago, and the others, including the tea set, from the Late Bronze Age (or Late Canaanite Period), about 3,300 years ago.
“Megiddo has been the subject of excavation for over a century,” the researchers wrote. But while it has long been known as a site of “ancient urban planning and Canaanite worship,” the new excavations have now revealed a new area between the ancient city and the activities that took place around and outside the city, they wrote.
The team was surprised to discover a small, 5,000-year-old hollowed-out wine production press, one of the oldest of its type known in the world. The press had been dug into the rock, with a sloping surface where the grapes were crushed, which then led to a collection vat.
“This press is unique, one of the few known from such an ancient period, when urbanization began in our region,” say Golani and Barak Tzinan IAA excavation director at the site, noted in a joint statement. “Until now, indirect evidence indicated that the wine could have been produced 5,000 years ago, but we did not have conclusive proof of this – irrefutable proof that would clearly indicate when it happened in our region.”
The team also uncovered numerous residential buildings around the wine press, indicating that the wine press was likely important to the community.
