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The mola olearia-type olive
oil press was a mill consisting of one or two cylindrical millstones
which were supported by a vertical shaft attached to the central
oil mill - a circular construction in which the olives were
crushed when the millstones were turned with the aid of wooden
levers. The crushed olives were then gathered in straw mats
or sacks, and placed on a compression bed. There the sack with
the olive pulp was crushed with the help of a lever - a wooden
beam - suspended from a stone weight and attached on one side
to the wall above the compression bed. With the assistance of
a special screw, which as it turned squeezed the olive pulp,
the olive oil was collected from the spout of the compression
bed, probably in an earthenware jar set in a concave depression
in a carved stone. This type of olive oil press represents the
development of the olive oil press using a lever that is depicted
on the Attic skyphos (beaker) of the 6th c. BC.
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