BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

When Sugar Grew in the Holy Land

Medieval sugar mill discovered

Amos Frumkin in a channal of the Mamluk sugar mill. Niche for an oil lamp marked in red. Courtesy Frumkin.

When envisioning the agricultural produce of the Holy Land, sugar is not what comes to most people’s minds, but for much of the Middle Ages, many areas of the Levant were important production centers for water-needy sugar cane. Recent excavations near Beth Shean, south of the Sea of Galilee, revealed a rock-carved, subterranean water installation that served as part of a sugar mill, demonstrating the power and sophistication of local environmental engineering.

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Channeling Water

Deep beneath the sunlit pools of Gan Ha-Shelosha National Park, archaeologists uncovered a forgotten network of rock-hewn tunnels that illuminates medieval industry in the Holy Land. The tunnels were carved into the area’s soft tufa bedrock and served to direct and manage water flow. Archaeologists determined that the system dates to the Mamluk period (c. 1291–1516 CE), a time in which the Beth Shean valley was a hub for the lucrative sugar cane industry.

Although sugar cane is not native to the Levant, the industry spread across the area with the Islamic conquest and became especially important during the Mamluk period, when sugar production was intensively practiced in the Nile Delta and Mesopotamia. Whereas those regions have abundant water resources, however, water in the Beth Shean valley is far more limited. To overcome this issue, the Mamluks utilized ingenious water systems, such as the one discovered at Gan Ha-Shelosha. The channels diverted brackish water from a nearby spring, bringing the water to a lower elevation while also reducing the area through which it could flow. This increased the water’s speed as it met a paddle wheel that would spin and then turn a pair of millstones above.

According to project leader Amos Frumkin of the Hebrew University, “Understanding these hidden tunnels helps us see the Mamluk world not just as a military empire but as one deeply invested in harnessing natural forces for economic resilience.”

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