From windlass to screw : olive pressing technology in the Maltese islands in antiquity

Abstract

When the Maltese Antiquarian A.A. Caruana reported on the discovery of a Roman ‘farmhouse or country residence’ in the area of Tad-Dawl (Malta) in an early issue of the American Journal of Archaeology he essentially put Malta on the map of those interested in ancient olive oil pressing technology, including the Danish ancient historian and librarian Aage Gerhardt Drachmann. Drachmann considered the stone mill found at the site of Tad-Dawl when reconstructing the Catonian trapetum. However, although much has been written about olive pressing technology in the Mediterranean since Drachmann’s time, Malta seems to escape the attention of most scholars. Frankel’s seminal monograph on the subject refers only to two finds from Malta, namely Tad-Dawl and San Pawl Milqi, the latter site explored by an Italian Archaeological Mission in the 1960s. For both sites, Frankel lists the equipment used in pressing olives and catalogues the rectangular counterweight stone blocks used in this process from San Pawl Milqi (none are reported to have been discovered at Tad-Dawl) as ‘Weight – Two Open Dove-Tail Mortices – Rectangular – Groove’ and ‘Weight – Two Open Mortices and Vertical Bores’. [Excerpt]