The bottles were found in a building dating from the Ottoman Empire but used by British forces, according to Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) excavation director Ron Toueg.
“On November 15, 1917, the Egyptian Expeditionary Force under the command of General Allenby conquered the area around the towns of Lod and Ramle”, explained the architect, curator and British army researcher in Palestine Sherri Mark in a video uploaded by the IAA. .
cnxps.cmd.push (function () {cnxps ({playerId: ’36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b’}). render (‘4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6’);});
if (window.location.pathname.indexOf (“656089”)! = -1) {document.getElementsByClassName (“divConnatix”)[0].style.display = “none”;} else if (window.location.pathname.indexOf (“/ israel-news /”)! = -1) {document.getElementsByClassName (“divConnatix”)[0].style.display = “none”; var script = document.createElement (‘script’); script.src = “https://player.anyclip.com/anyclip-widget/lre-widget/prod/v1/src/lre.js”; script.setAttribute (‘pubname’, ‘jpostcom’); script.setAttribute (‘widgetname’, ‘0011r00001lcD1i_12258’); document.getElementsByClassName (‘divAnyClip’)[0].appendChild (script);} else if (window.location.pathname.indexOf (“/ health-and-wellness /”)! = -1) {document.getElementsByClassName (“divConnatix”)[0].style.display = “none”; var script = document.createElement (‘script’); script.src = “https://player.anyclip.com/anyclip-widget/lre-widget/prod/v1/src/lre.js”; script.setAttribute (‘pubname’, ‘jpostcom’); script.setAttribute (‘widgetname’, ‘0011r00001lcD1i_12246’); document.getElementsByClassName (‘divAnyClip’)[0].appendChild (script);}
A rubbish pit was found next to the building and provided insight into the daily life of British troops.
Hundreds of liquor bottles were found during archaeological excavations at the British WWI encampment near Ramle (credit: IAA)
Some of the finds included parts of uniforms, such as buttons and belts, as well as the tip of a British officer‘s swaggering staff, which they liked to wear under their armpits. The swaggering staff is the first of its kind found in Israeli excavations.
The most prevalent result, however, was alcohol.
Almost 70% of the trash discovered were glass bottles, which had contained European wine, beer, gin and whiskey. The large amount of alcohol suggests that the soldiers drank heavily, perhaps out of boredom or to cope with the difficult and sometimes terrible experiences of war.