The archaeological research group of the French University of Montpellier Paul Valery III has discovered the oldest Roman oil amphora workshop in the Guadalquivir Valley among the neighbouring villages of Ochavillo del Rio and Villalon. The find is located in the site called Fuente de Los Peces, inside a private estate, where fifteen French, Italian, Algerian, Swedish and Spanish archaeologists have been working for three weeks.
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| Credit: Palma Del Rio Noticias |
The Fuente de Los Peces site was located in 2008, but it was only three years ago, with the help of the local heritage association Adipha, that the team hypothesized the existence of a particularly important Roman pottery workshop. This has been corroborated by the excavation and the discovery of huge quantities of amphorae stamped with the seal Marcus R., the oldest of which is known to refer to the bottling of olive oil in Andalusia.
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| Credit: Palma Del Rio Noticias |
It should be noted that only a small part of the site has been excavated using the trench method, within the area corresponding to the pottery dispersal. The entrance to a single kiln has been located, as well as two-metre deep amphorae refuse sites. It is also confirmed that there was an adjacent residential area, probably equipped with an oil mill.
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| Credit: Palma Del Rio Noticias |
Until now, the oldest olearian amphorae were known mainly in Rome and in the areas where the Roman army was stationed in the time of Augustus, in the military camps of present-day Germany, but it was not known where they were produced. Although later producers had been identified through seals, in the case of older amphorae, almost none were sealed. In fact, in Carmona there is a site from the same period, but there are no sealed amphorae.
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| Credit: Palma Del Rio Noticias |
This work concludes the programme Oleastro (Oleicultura y Anforas en la Turdetania Romana) directed by Stephane Maune (CNRS), which began in 2016 and has been financed by the French Ministry of Culture, the Labex-Archimede, and Casa Velazquez in Madrid.
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| Credit: Palma Del Rio Noticias |
The area has been reburied to preserve it.
Author: Evaristo Guzman (trsl. TANN) | Source: Fuente Palmera Informacion [June 07, 2019]
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