The Cana Wedding Wine Jars Were Likely Crafted in a Cave and Archaeologists Think They’ve Found It

Do you remember the story of Jesus’ first miracle when he turned water into wine at a wedding feast in Cana of Galilee? This miracle is recorded in John 2:1-11. Recently, archaeologists have discovered what they believe is the workshop where the vessels were made that likely held the water (and wine) at the wedding feast.

An archaeological team with the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) is currently excavating a quarry that was used for producing chalkstone containers during the Roman era, according to Christian Today. The quarry is located in Reina in Lower Galilee.

Archaeologists discovered that the cave where the stone for the vessels was quarried contained thousands of stone vessels, including mugs, bowls, and various other containers at different points in the production process.

The archaeologists believe this vessel-making facility may have been where the vessels that held the water and wine at the Cana wedding feast were made because the quarry is located just south of the modern village of Kafr Kanna, which is believed to be modern-day Cana. Additionally, the archaeologists believe that Jews in particular used vessels made of chalkstone for religious reasons.

IAA director of the excavations Dr. Yonatan Adler explained: “In ancient times, most tableware, cooking pots and storage jars were made of pottery. In the first century of the Common Era, however, Jews throughout Judea and Galilee also used tableware and storage vessels made of soft, local chalkstone.

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 which can never become ritually impure, and as a result ancient Jews began to produce some of their everyday tableware from stone,” he continued.

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Publication date: August 10, 2017