Mediterranean Olive Oil Presses

Timeline

1. -200–200Eastern Mediterranean · Eastern MediterraneanGreek and Roman farmsteads commonly used stone mills and lever press beds (trapeta) to process olives; oil workshops were closely integrated with villa economies, and the technology spread widely along the Mediterranean coast.
2. 1001–1010Peloponnese · PeloponneseIn the early 11th century, Mediterranean farmsteads used stone mills and screw presses to extract olive oil after the autumn harvest; the product supplied local consumption, church needs, and port trade, forming the seasonal core labor of Byzantine and southern European rural economies.
3. 1200–1500Italian Peninsula · Italian PeninsulaIn the late Middle Ages, parts of Italy and Iberia introduced water-driven millstones and larger pressing devices, improving oil extraction efficiency, but the basic principles of lever and screw pressing continued the classical tradition.