Archaeologists discover ancient mug shop near site where Jesus turned water into wine

Israeli archaeologists have discovered a 2,000-year-old mug workshop located near the ancient city of Cana, where Jesus performed the miracle of turning water into wine.

The site, located near the Galilee village of Reineh in northern Israel, was found by archaeologists during construction work for a municipal sports center by the local council.

According to CBN News, the archaeologists were working on two sites at Reineh, about a kilometer apart, just south of the modern village of Kafr Kanna, which is believed to be the site of biblical Cana.

Among the artifacts found at the site include fragments of chalk stone mugs and bowls along with thousands of cylindrical chalk cores discarded in the process of hollowing out the vessels with a lathe.

Excavation director Dr. Yonatan Adler said that the discovery highlights the significance of ritual purity in the lives of Galilean Jews during Jesus time.

"The reason for this curious choice of material seems to have been religious. According to ancient Jewish ritual law, vessels made of pottery are easily made impure and must be broken. Stone, on the other hand, was thought to be a material that can never become ritually impure, and as a result ancient Jews began to produce some of their everyday tableware from stone," Adler told Agence France-Presse.

The practice has been described in John's New Testament account of the Cana wedding, which spoke of larger vessels: "There were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews."

Adler noted that evidence of the production of large jars have not been found at the site, but he said that the stone jars that would have been used at Cana would have been made at a similar workshop in the area.

The walls, ceiling and floor of the cave where the workshop was found bears ancient chisel marks, indicating that it was a hewn cave.

Adler noted that the production waste discovered in the cave indicate that the workers produced mainly mugs with handles and various sizes of bowls. He said that the discovery provides "striking evidence that Jews here were scrupulous regarding the purity laws."

Two similar sites had been excavated near Jerusalem prior to the excavation in Reineh, according to Adler.

"There has always been a question amongst scholars regarding the nature of Judaism in Galilee," Adler said, noting the importance of Judaism in studying early Christianity. "The question is, who are these people that are living in Galilee?" he asked.