RODA-ACHARAVIS - 2002

Roda-Acharavis road, public property. D. Zernioti (Η’ ΕΠΚΑ) reports the discovery of a Hellenistic probable olive oil workshop (26x11m) with nine rooms (five to the north and four to the south), founded on bedrock. The building faced towards the south and the sea. Room 1 in the southeast corner contained tile-covered water channels and a central sunken round stone which served as a workbench. West of room 1 lay rooms 2-6, of roughly equal size and covered by a destruction level. Within rooms 5 and 6 were sections of two round stones with deep grooves cut around them. The complex had a central entrance on the north side (into room 7) as well as one on the rear west side, where the bedrock had been levelled into a courtyard (which was partially roofed) for vehicular access. Pithoi indicate that two rooms (8 and 9) on the north side, west of room 7, were stores. The function of the building is hard to characterise for want of finds and because it is isolated from any settlement. It is, however, likely to combine storage and the working of natural products, perhaps a bakery or more probably for processing olives (a channel outside the building on the southeast side may have been for the removal of waste after the process of separating the pure oil). The rooms appear too small for domestic use, and the many small spaces better fit a shop of some kind. The complex is at present unique on the island. The few finds (coins, lamps and pottery) date to the third-second centuries BC. The shortage of finds and the destruction layer with debris of the collapsed roof suggest that it was abandoned peacefully.