During a recent highway expansion near Ramla, Israel, around 13 miles outside of Tel Aviv, excavators unearthed a lot of artifacts from bygone eras, including some tools that are thought to be 250,000 years old.

They also unearthed a lot of (now-empty) liquor bottles, which were deposited at a now-exposed building where British soldiers stayed during World War I.  

Ron Toueg, an excavation director on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said they also found buttons and buckles there, but what stood out was the booze. 

“We were surprised to discover that, along with broken crockery and cutlery, there was an enormous number of soft drink and liquor bottles,” Toueg said. “In fact, about 70% of the waste that was discarded in the refuse pit were liquor bottles. It seems that the soldiers took advantage of the respite given them to release the tension by frequently drinking alcohol.”

Which is a reasonable deduction—British soldiers camped in the area for nine months as they awaited orders to move further north, according to a researcher quoted by the Israel Antiquities Authority. 

And a fair amount of that time was spent, apparently, having a drink.