AN ANCIENT ROMAN "LEISURE RESORT" HAS BEEN UNCOVERED BY ARCHAEOLOGISTS IN JERUSALEM (PHOTOS)

An ancient rural estate comprising a manor house, large wine press, Roman bathhouse and Jewish Mikye, or ritual bath, has been unearthed in Jerusalem beneath a famous orphanage.

The buildings and pottery found at the site are 1,600 years old and have been dated to the Roman or Byzantine period.

Some bricks are stamped with the name of the Tenth Roman Legion, suggesting soldiers were garrisoned there having played a role in the conquest of Jewish Jerusalem in 70AD.

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An ancient rural estate comprising a manor house, large wine press (pictured), Roman bathhouse and Jewish Mikye, or ritual bath, has been unearthed in Jerusalem beneath a famous orphanage

The ruins were discovered by archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority who were excavating the site of the Schneller Orphanage ahead of the construction of flats for the city's orthodox population.

The German protestant orphanage operated in Jerusalem from 1860 until World War Two and later the site served as a military base.

The archaeologists discovered a large wine press at the heart of the site, including a pressing surface paved with a white mosaic.

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The ruins (shown) were discovered by archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority who were excavating the site of the Schneller Orphanage ahead of the construction of flats

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THE SCHNELLER ORPHANAGE 

The Schneller Orphanage was a German Protestant orphanage that operated in Jerusalem from 1860 to 1940.

It was set up by Johann Ludwig Schneller, who was a German Lutheran missionary from Wurttemberg.

It was one of the first structures to be built outside the Old City of Jerusalem and paved the way for the expansion of Jerusalem in the 19th century.

The orphanage offered an education and vocational training to hundreds of orphaned and abandoned Arab children from Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Armenia, Turkey, Russia, Iran, and Germany. 

In the centre is a pit in which a press screw was anchored that aided in extracting the maximum amount of juice, or must, from the grapes alongside eight cells that were used to store grapes around the edge.

The cells may also have been used to store other ingredients with which the must was blended, in order to make new flavours of wine.

The archaeologists believe the winery served the residents of a large manor house whose inhabitants made their living making wine.

They also uncovered the foundations of a bathhouse, including terracotta pipes used to heat the building and clay bricks stamped with the name of the Tenth Roman Legion.

This legion was one of four Roman legions that participated in the conquest of Jewish Jerusalem, and its units remained garrisoned in the city until 300 AD.

Amit Re'em, the Jerusalem district archaeologist, said: 'We found a unique bath house with special ceramic pipes. 

Credit: DAILY MAIL.