Laurence Dollimore
THE Costa del Sol’s first ever Roman olive oil press has been unearthed in Mijas.
The ancient find is one of many at the site of Finca de Acebedo, a Roman villa which continues to be excavated by archaeologists.
Experts came across the counterweight for the four-tonne device, which they believe was used between the third and fourth centuries.
The device consisted of a large stone bowl (mortarium) into which the olives were poured and then crushed under two concave stones (orbes) attached to a central beam (cupa) fixed to an iron pivot (columella).
It comes after two ovens and extremely well-preserved Roman baths were discovered in the same area a few months ago.
The area will become the largest archaeology park on the Costa del Sol and plans to be a major tourism and cultural attraction.
The head of Mijas’s Historic Heritage department, Juan Jose de la Rubia, previously said the discovery of two ovens in very good condition, and other materials, indicates that this is ‘one of the few existing sites from the early days of the Roman presence in the province’.
The site is said to be hugely important for studying the transitional period between the Carthaginians and Romans.
