Archaeologists Discover Ancient Roman Olive Oil Production Facilities in North Africa

Located in western Tunisia, the plants operated between the third and sixth centuries and likely helped supply precious olive oil to Rome

Sarah Kuta - Daily Correspondent

December 8, 2025 2:10 p.m.

An international team of archaeologists from Italy, Spain and Tunisia has been excavating Henchir el Begar since 2023. Ca' Foscari University of Venice

Ancient Romans were big fans of olive oil, consuming an average of five gallons per person per year by one estimate. Beyond cooking and eating, olive oil played a central role in daily life, serving as a staple for everything from body care and medicine to sports and religious rituals.

Now, archaeologists have uncovered fresh evidence of just how integral olives were to Roman culture.

Researchers recently unearthed a pair of large olive-pressing facilities in present-day Tunisia that operated between the third and sixth centuries, according to a recent announcement from the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. They report that one of the complexes may be the second-largest known olive oil production center in the Roman Empire.

The facilities are located at Henchir el Begar, an archaeological site near the border with Algeria in Tunisia’s Kasserine region. Archaeologists from Italy, Spain and Tunisia have been jointly excavating the site since 2023.

“Shedding light on the production, marketing and transport of [olive oil] on such a large scale presents an exceptional opportunity to combine research, valorization and economic development,” says Luigi Sperti, an archaeologist at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, in the statement.

Hr Begar 1 may be home to the Roman Empire's second-largest known olive oil production facility, according to the researchers. Henchir el Begar

Located in the Jebel Semmama mountain range, the region was mostly dry and had large temperature swings—which would have made it perfect for growing olive trees. According to the researchers, Tunisia was the primary supplier of olive oil to Rome.

Henchir el Begar, which spans roughly 82 acres, was once part of a large rural estate. It’s home to a Latin inscription from 138 C.E. that authorized the organization of a bimonthly market, which would have made it a hub for gatherings and trade.

Researchers have divided Henchir el Begar into two sections. One area, dubbed Hr Begar 1, is home to the largest known Roman olive oil mill found in Tunisia, and the second-largest found throughout the entire empire, according to the researchers. The mill has 12 beam presses, which were used to apply pressure to olives until they released their valuable oil.

Hr Begar 2 also has an olive oil plant, although it’s slightly smaller, with just eight beam presses. Both sites have a water-collection basin and several cisterns.

Quick fact: 4,000-year-old olive oil found in Italy

In 2018, research revealed that olive oil was being used in Italy by roughly 2000 B.C.E.

Archaeologists have also unearthed stone millstones and mills, suggesting Henchir el Begar produced cereals in addition to oil. Additionally, using ground-penetrating radar, the researchers have identified a network of residential roads and other structures.

Other artifacts from the modern age to the Byzantine era have also surfaced, including a bracelet made of copper and brass, a white limestone projectile and parts of a sculpture.

“This mission offers an unprecedented insight into the agricultural and socioeconomic organization of the frontier regions of Roman Africa,” says Sperti.

The Romans were far from the first culture to use, produce and trade olive oil. Around the year 6000 B.C.E., inhabitants of the eastern Mediterranean began extracting oil from wild-grown olives. They loved this high-calorie, nutrient-rich liquid so much that, by 5000 B.C.E., they were growing olive trees in orchards, according to the British Museum.

“Olive oil quickly transformed the way people lived: It was burned as fuel in lamps, it helped preserve food longer, especially dairy products such as yogurt and cheese, and it enabled a broad cuisine to flourish, providing the foundations of what we know today as the ‘Mediterranean diet,’” according to the museum.

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