Hurbat Castra, Archaeological ruins in southern Haifa, Israel

Hurbat Castra is an archaeological dig site in southern Haifa with remains dating from the Roman and Byzantine periods. The ruins include residential buildings, pressing facilities, and workshops that show how people lived and worked at this location.

The settlement thrived from the 4th to 7th centuries as a center focused on wine and olive oil production. This specialization reflects how ancient communities adapted their economy to the land and available resources.

The place served as a busy production hub where people made and traded goods on a large scale. Walking through the ruins, you can see how ordinary work and commerce shaped daily life in ancient times.

The excavated area covers about 32 dunams beside the Carmel Tunnels access road, with two large structures visible between the road and the youth hostel. The ground is uneven and partly on a slope, so wear sturdy shoes. The site lies about 1.5 km from the coast in Kfar Samir.

The site holds 14 winepresses with a combined capacity of about 200,000 litres and 13 olive-oil installations producing some 8,000 litres, numbers that mark Castra as an industrial town rather than a village. Two of the oil presses used a screw added to the beam and weights.