Israel's Antiquities Authority announced Monday it has recently unearthed a 2,800-year-old farmhouse during salvage excavations in the city of Rosh HaAyin.
The structure was built during the Assyrian conquest in the eighth century BC and is comprised of 23 rooms that extend across an area of 1,200 square meters and is "remarkably well-preserved," said excavation director Amit Shadman.
"Farmhouses during this period served as small settlements of sorts, whose inhabitants participated in processing agricultural produce. The numerous wine presses discovered in the vicinity of the settlement indicates that the wine industry was the most important branch of agriculture in the region," Shadman said in a statement.
The building, he said, continued to be used during the Persian period - also known as the Time of the Return to Zion - in the sixth century BC, and in the Hellenistic period, which began in the region with the arrival of Alexander the Great.
"Following Alexander's victory over the Persian army in 333 BC, he embarked on numerous successful military campaigns. His campaign in Israel did not encounter any particular difficulties, and the country opened its gates to the great warrior," according to the IAA statement.
Shadman said that archaeologists uncovered a rare silver coin in the structure bearing the military leader's name, noting that the artifact is evidence of Greek presence in the region. One side of the coin is inscribed with the image of the god Zeus, while the head of Heracles appears on the other side.
The IAA said that in light of the site's "excellent state of preservation," it will be conserved in situ for the benefit of Rosh HaAyin's residents and the public.