Although, the Indians and the Palestinians were the first to be involved in the production of olive oil to be used as ointment for the skin and medicine, only during the greek-roman epoch the culture of this product started to spread worldwide. To satisfy the growing demand driven by its many uses – the romans were even accepting it as a payment for the tributes – these populations had to figure out more efficient ways to produce it. The first techniques of oil extraction, dated to the late antiquity, indeed, consisted in digging cavities in the rock where the olives were placed and smashed with the help of a stick by making the process slow and unproductive.
For this reason, between the II and the III century a. C., it was introduced the first horizontal swivel ‘mola’ (mill) moved by hand. To further improve the method, a masonry was then installed to place the ‘mola’ vertically. In addition, a horizontal pole passing from the centre and linked to the harness of the horse was put in place to operate. Thanks to these techniques, the quantities of olive oil produced started to rise sharply because the methods were quickly being adopted by different communities.
The major centres of production were built in Puglia from were the olive oil was exported to both the north and the south of Italy.
Today the most ancient ‘mola’ is in Olynthe, in Greece. The one visible from the window of this room is more recent than the latter, but it can give a clear idea of the engineering skills of our ancestors.