AN Egyptian antiquities team has discovered a Roman-era “wine factory” in the Nile Delta region of Abu Qir 200 kilometres north of Cairo, a senior Egyptian antiquities official said on Wednesday. The find, dating from the era of Roman rule in Egypt that ran from 30 BC to 395 AD, was made during excavations in a mound of deposits likely to contain antiquities from various periods, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Antiquities Gaballah Ali Gaballah said. “We expect that there are more groupings of antiquities that go back to the age of the Pharaohs,” Gaballah said. The interior walls of the presses were covered with rose-colored mortar to prevent leaks, and had stone extensions to drain the wine into vessels. The team also discovered pottery used in the factory, and funerary statues inscribed with hieroglyphics at the site dating from the earlier Pharaonic era, Maqsoud said. The area of Abu Qir, known in the Pharaonic era as Canopus, thrived on the passage of merchant ships en route from the Mediterranean sea to the nearby mouth of a branch of the Nile. – AFP