THE INTERNATIONAL MOLINOLOGICAL SOCIETY
GREEK MILLS
Pre-industrial and early industrial mills in
the northeastern Aegean (Lesvos, Chios)
Alexandros Kiourellis
Since antiquity, and indeed until a few decades ago, the extraction of oil from the fruit of the
olive tree was done in three distinct stages. In the first stage the olives were crushed and
ground to a paste. In the second the paste was compressed using various types of presses to
extract the juice. In the third stage the oil was separated from other kinds of olive juice, the
solid residues of the olive flesh, and the water used during the pressing stage. In primitive oil
mills the first two stages merged into one.
Pre-industrial era
the British archaeologist, W. Lamb, at the prehistoric settlement of Thermi. There, between
five consecutive settlement layers of the Early Bronze Age (2800-2000 BC), a shallow
oblong stone basin was found and was considered to have been used for olive crushing. 1
From this distant era until about 400 BC there are no written records or finds from
excavations that could provide clues to the technology of olive oil production over this long
period.
The trapetum
The trapetum is the primary type of the Greek olive oil mill. From archaeological finds, it
has been possible to form a detailed description of the mill. 2
Fig. 1. Trapetum basin in Flatsia Chios (Kiourellis 2011:21).
According to Amouretti, 3 during the 4 th and 3 rd centuries BC, the trapetum evolved from
much older mills and extraction methods, and arrived at its final form in the 2 nd century BC.
On Lesvos we have identified and recorded 29 basins and 25 millstones from trapeta, 4 all
carved from reddish-gray volcanic rock. None of them has been recovered from excavations,
and this, amongst other things, makes it very difficult or impossible for them to be dated.
However, most were discovered in Byzantine settlements, which leads us to believe that the
trapetum was used on Lesvos until the Byzantine period. All millstones are lentiform, with a
square hole in the middle.
Fig. 2. Trapetum millstone in Vrahias area of Clio on Lesvos (Kiourellis 2005:25).
At Pindaka on Chios two millstones have been found. One of them has two flat sides and the
surfaces between are curved, whilst the hole in the centre is square. The other is lentiform
with a round hole in the centre. 5 We have identified five basins and two millstones in our
field research. The millstones are lenticular in shape and the hole in the middle is round.
The mill with one mill stone
On Lesvos and Chios, the trapetum was gradually replaced by a mill in which the millstone
grinding the olives into a paste had a truncated conical shape. 6. On Chios this mill is called the
mill with one stone. Our view is that on Lesvos use of this type of mill ceased in the last
decades of the 19 th century, so we actually do not know how they were made and how they
were operated. However, on Chios this type of mill was in operation until 1965. Some mills
are still preserved in very good condition, and people who worked in them are still alive.
Fig. 3. Mill with truncated cone-shaped stone in the olive oil mill of Giannis and Eugenia
Giannomorou in Pityos Chios (Kiourellis 2011:37).
The mill in Notiochora Chios (the villages in the south of the island) is called mantra.
The main parts of this mill type are, the base, the slab (the lower millstone) - on which
olives were ground, the kylintro (mill stone) and the vertical shaft. In the old mills,
was a shallow circular basin with a flat bottom. It had a raised vertical peripheral rim and a
cylindrical hole through its centre. A cylindrical piece of timber of the same size was fixed
into this hole. In the centre of this piece of timber there was a second hole, into which the
lower end of the rotating vertical mill shaft was placed.
Fig. 4. Mill with truncated cone-shaped stone in the olive oil mill of Dim. Niamonitis in
Kourounia, Chios (Kiourellis 2011:38).
In more recent mills, still preserved, the slab, or lower millstone, consists of wide
stones joined together to form a circular flat surface (as in fig. 4), the upper part of which is
surrounded by a metal band, 12 to 15 cm in width and 0.6 cm thick, called the gyros tis
petras. In this way a shallow pan is formed, approximately 9 cm in depth, so that the olives
and olive paste are contained. At the centre of this stone there is a rectangular or square
depression called the folia (nest). A piece of iron of the same dimensions, known as the
malama, is placed into the folia. There is a depression, 2.5 cm in diameter and 2.5 cm in
depth, at the centre of the malama, in which the vertical shaft of the mill turns.
The millstone, or kylintro, is in the shape of a truncated cone and rotates on the slab.
These mill stones range from 50 to 100 cm in length; however, most are approximately 85
cm. In the centre of both types of base there is also a truncated conical recess called the
efalos (navel), around 8 cm in depth and 8 cm in diameter.
In the centre of the stone base there was a vertical shaft, the
orthostatis, usually made of wood. A small metal shaft, known as the psili, was
fixed to the lower end of the orthostatis. The psili, and along with it the whole shaft,
turned inside the recess at the centre of the malama. The top of the orthostasis
rotated in a socket, which was usually mounted on the side of one of the supporting
roof beams of the olive mill, or it could also be mounted on the side of a thick beam
fixed between two opposite walls.
The millstone has a horizontal wooden frame, rectangular in shape, called the
mantrosia. The frame is mounted on the vertical shaft. As the animal was strapped to the
frame post, it moved around the base of the mill, turning the vertical shaft along with the
millstone and its frame at the same time. The millstone performed two movements, one
around itself and another around a vertical axis, passing over the olives spread out on the slab
and cutting (grinding) them. Thus the hamour, the olive paste, was produced.
On Nisyros the millstone rotation mechanism was slightly different from that found
on Chios. The vertical shaft did not rotate together with the millstone, but was fixed to the
centre of the stone base and the roof of the olive oil mill. The frame surrounding the millstone
and the millstone itself rotated together around the fixed vertical shaft. As there is no
information on the construction components of this type of mill on Lesvos, this poses the
question as to whether they were like those of Chios or those of Nisyros. However, due to
the similarity of the shape and size of millstones we could consider it possible that the mills
of Lesvos were similar to the mills of Chios.
The mill with cylindrical millstone
On Lesvos, from the early 1840s the mill with one stone began to be replaced by another
mill type, where there was an upright cylindrical stone. 7 In Chios this transition failed to take
place, so there were no mills with a single upright cylindrical millstone. Rather, they moved
immediately to the next stage in development, with two upright cylindrical millstones. On
Lesvos the prevalence of steam-powered mills from the last decades of the 19 th century
onwards meant that mills with an upright cylindrical millstone were only used for a few
decades, and the mills with two upright stones were never used. 8
Fig. 5. Mill with a cylindrical millstone in the olive oil mill of Samaradellis in Antissa
(Kiourellis 2011:174).
In the mills with cylindrical millstones, there was a cylindrical slab on which a shallow
circular basin was mounted. The basin was called katopetra or kato petra (bottom stone).
On top of this an upright cylindrical millstone was placed, called the 'epano petra; (upper
stone), or simply petra (stone). A socket was carved out of the centre of the basin, in which
the vertical post turned. The upper end of the post rotated in another suitably shaped socket in
the roof beam. The vertical millstone had in its centre a hole through which the horizontal
shaft passed. This shaft in Agra is called the helm of the stone. One end of this shaft was
fixed to the vertical post, and the other end was strapped onto an animal, which as it moved
around the base, turned the grindstone. In the last mills of this type (operating on Lesvos), the
slab was surrounded by a metal or wooden enclosure, wider in diameter at the top and smaller
at the bottom, between 40 and 50 cm deep. It was called tsanaklik or kasnak. In this way the
katopetra together with tsanaklik formed a basin, deep enough to allow a greater quantity of
olives for every grinding.
The mill with double stones (or with upright stones)
In Chios, as has been already noted, there was no stage with one single cylindrical millstone.
The mill with one stone was gradually replaced by the more sophisticated type with two
cylindrical millstones, called the mill with double millstones. The millstones rotated in a
vertical plane, opposite each other. Thus the mill was also called the mill with the upright
stones. Both these types of mill have been described in detail. 9
Fig. 6. Mill with double mill stones in the olive oil mill of Andreas Galatoulas, in Melanios,
Chios (Kiourellis 2011:49).
The pressing of the olive paste
The paste produced when grinding olives must be processed further to produce oil. In the
monastery courtyard of Our Lady Rouhouniotissa at Katarraktis, Chios there is a flat stone
123 cm in length, 85 cm in width and 35 cm thick.
Fig. 7. Compression slab for olive paste in the monastery of Our Lady of Rouhouniotissa at
Kataraktis Chios (Kiourellis 2011:132).
On the top there is a round surface surrounded by a circular groove. Next to the round surface
are two cylindrical depressions, 34 cm in diameter and 22 cm deep, connected together by a
groove. Another groove joins the circular groove to the depression on the left, as can be seen
in the picture. It would appear that the round surface was for pressing mashed fruit, the juice
of which flowed along the grooves and into the left depression. In this depression separation
occurred through the process of flotation, allowing oil to gather in the other depression. 10 A
little further away, two millstones were found, so it seems that the monastery had its own
olive oil mill and this stone perhaps comes from some type of press. In Vessa, people
confirmed that such a stone was found a few years earlier in a side street of the village, and
next to it there was a wide heavy stone slab leant against a wall. The oldest of the villagers
remembered that ground olives were placed in goat hair sacks, the sacks were then placed on
the round surface with the groove, with the slab placed on top and left overnight. In all, we
have identified five pressing base slabs similar to that of Our Lady of Rouhouniotissa on
Chios.
Olive press with a lever
Our findings show that on Lesvos the type of oil press with a lever was widespread. A beam
or lever had one end anchored to a fixed point, and beneath the lever there was a stone base,
the linos, on which the crushed olives were pressed. In the simplest and oldest type of olive
press the pressure was exerted by stone weights hung on the free end of the lever. On Lesvos
no stone weights such as these have been identified thus far.
Fig. 8. Reconstruction drawing of olive oil press in Nicosia, Cyprus (Hadjisavvas 1992:33,
pic. 59).
In the next stage in the development of these olive presses, the free end of the lever
was pulled downwards by a windlass (as in fig. 9), and later a screw was used (as in fig. 10).
The windlass and screw were mounted on a massive monolith. On Lesvos more than 90 such
monoliths have been identified, described, and classified into categories, but there are many
more. 10 In the vast majority, the horizontal cross section is rectangular in shape; in a very few
it is square. In some cases monoliths have been carved from stones once in buildings, so there
are a variety of shapes. In most cases a notch starts at the top of both the shorter sides of the
monolith, and goes down in the direction of its base.
Fig. 9. Olive press with a lever and windlass (M. -C. Amouretti 1986:167).
Fig. 10. Reconstruction Drawing of an olive press on the plain of Kouris on Cyprus (S.
Hadjisavvas 1992:53, fig. 87).
Fig. 11. Monolith from an olive press with a lever in Souk Roumani Sikamia Lesvos
(Kiourellis 2005:87).
In type A monoliths, notches extend from the upper surface to a point above the base,
while in type B monoliths, the notches are along their whole height. The notches held two
short vertical pieces of wood that supported the windlass or screw. In the vast majority, these
notches are substantially narrower at the top than at the bottom, making it impossible for the
vertical pieces of wood to move upwards. In monolith type A2 and B2 a groove runs along
the length of the upper surface from one end to the other. Within this, a wooden or iron link
was placed, and passed through the two vertical wooden beams to hold them in position. The
wooden windlass mechanism was mounted on both these types of monolith. In the centre of
the top surface of the monolith type A3 and B3 there is circular depression inside which the
lower portion of the screw rotates (as in fig. 12). 11
Fig. 12. Monolith of olive press lever in Asomatos, Lesvos (Kiourellis 2005:96).
Figs. 13. Possible stone weight from an olive press used with a lever at Pyrgi Chios
(Kiourellis 2011:58).
In Pindaka on Chios stone weights were found in the past. 12 Also on Chios we found
two more blocks of stone whose form suggests that they could have been used as olive press
weights. One is located in Pyrgi (as in fig. 13), and the other in the Klidi area of Vrontados. 13
On Chios, in the Paragkli area of Sykiada village we also identified a type B2 monolith
suitable for supporting the windlass mechanism. In the Chios museum there are two more
monoliths with the characteristic depression on the top surface showing the use of the screw.
The linos.
The linos is a stone base for pressing the olive paste. It is a shallow stone basin with a spout
(Type A) or a round, rectangular or oval stone slab on which a circular groove is carved
leading to a spout (Type B). 14
Fig. 14. Linos in Pattia Pamfilon on Lesvos (Kiourellis 2005:85).
On the linos, sacks made of goat hair or reed, were piled, full of ground olives. These sacks
were pressed in such a way that the oil ran into a receptacle placed at a lower level than the
linos, the ypolinio. In Mana, Gera the only linos with two pressing surfaces on Lesvos was
found. It is carved from a large block of stone, its current length is 200 cm and its width is
100 cm. The original length was estimated to be 225 cm.
Fig. 15. Double linos at Mana, Gera, Lesvos (Kiourellis 2005:67).
The wooden press
Both on Lesbos and Chios a wooden press with a screw was widely used for exerting
pressure directly onto the olive paste. 15
Fig. 16. Wooden styraki press from the olive oil mill of Sophia Paidousis in Kambos, Chios (Kiourellis 2011:60).
The olive press was called baski on Lesvos andstyraki on Chios. The central screw, or
threaded bolt, was called adrahti. Some presses had one adrahti, others two. The base of the
press is a wooden block, the katotrapezo. The compression surface was in the centre of the base of the press, where they placed the petsetes (goat hair sacks) containing the olive paste, one on top of the other. The compression surface is surrounded by a groove, oil flowing out of the base at its front into a receptacle placed underneath. At Pirama the base of the press was made of oak.
On both ends of the press base there are notches into which vertical posts are placed,
the orthi. Another horizontal wooden beam, known as the vordoni, or top beam is fixed to
the top of these posts. It is about the same length and width as the base of the press, but much
thicker and greater in height. In the centre of this top beam; there is a carved nut in which the
adrahti turns. The upper portion of the adrahti has its thread. The lower part is cylindrical
on Chios, and has flat sides in Lesvos. Two cylindrical horizontal holes, 10 cm in diameter,
run through it. One is a little higher than the other and they are placed perpendicular to each
other. In these holes a long wooden lever, the manella, was placed. When the lever was
turned clockwise, the screw rotated and at the same time moved downwards. The plakotari, a
piece of wood a little shorter in length and width than the base, was joined to the lower end of
the screw. As the screw, or adrahti, turned downwards, it took the plakotari with it. The
plakotari exerted pressure on the sacks containing the olive paste and thus the oil was
extracted. To exert greater pressure on the olive paste, the botzargati, or ergati, (a wooden
windlass) was used. It was a shaft made of hard wood that rotated vertically around its axis,
mounted on appropriate sockets in the floor and ceiling. As it was turned it wound a chain or
thick rope, the palamari, one end of which was fixed to the wooden windlass and the other
end to the lever, the manella. In this way the lever was pulled to the right, causing the
adrahti, the screw, to turn.
The intermediate press
In the course of the evolution of the press some parts began to be made out of metal. 16
Initially the wooden adrahti was replaced by an iron vida, or bolt, and the top beam was
equipped with an iron female nut. In the next stage of development, all the parts of the press
were made of metal - except the base, which was either wooden or stone.
The iron press
All parts of the iron press are made of metal. 17 On Chios many olive oil mills that adopted
iron presses continued to use the wooden windlass to exert more pressure, but in most it was
replaced by a metal winch. On Lesbos the metal winch was not used, and the last oil presses
on the island used the wooden windlass.
Fig. 17. Iron styraki press from olive oil mill of Samaradellis in Delfonia, Antissa
(Kiourellis, Kiourellis 2008:221).
Separation of oil: The polimi (vessel used to collect oil)
The third stage of oil extraction is when oil is separated from the other juices of the olive and
from the water used in the compression of the olive paste. This separation was done in a stone
or wooden container placed in front and slightly below the base of the press.
Fig. 18. Wooden polimi tub at Milies, Lesvos (Kiourellis, Kiourellis 2008:197).
The vessel is called polimi on Lesvos and in Armolia, Chios gourni. The inside of some oil
collecting vessels consists of a single space, whilst in most of the others one or two partitions
divide the interior into two or three sub-spaces which communicate with each other through a
groove on the top of the partition. Oil and water flowed from the press into the oil collecting
vessels. The oil, since it is lighter, rose to the top and was taken off using another, shallow,
vessel. When oil collecting vessels had two spaces, the oil together with the water flowed into
the first of them. As the oil rose to the top, it would reach the groove in the partition and flow
into the next one, taking along with it a small amount of water.
Fig. 19. Stone polimi tub at Kapi Lesvos (Kiourellis, Kiourellis 2008:198).
If the oil collecting vessel had a second partition, then the groove of the second partition
channeled even clearer oil into the third space. What was left in the first compartment was
called amourgi (dregs). The Vassilis Malas oil collecting vessel in Halandra was made of
pine wood. In Pirama the oil collecting vessels were made from oak or plane tree.
Early industrial era
Steam-driven olive oil mills
As in animal-driven olive oil mills, so in steam-driven mills, olive processing took place in
three stages: the olives were ground, the olive paste was pressed, and the oil separated off.
Thus three mechanisms were needed, one for each stage, but in the steam-driven mills a
boiler was needed to generate steam and a steam engine to drive the machines. In 1853 the
first steam mill on Lesvos worked on the waterfront of Mytilene, the Koulaxizidon mill. 18
This mill was very soon destroyed by fire, but we can consider this date to be when the first
animal driven mill on Lesbos was replaced. The second one, Fidele-Nefi, was set up at
Skopelos, Gera in 1863. 19 In 1869 four steam mills were operating in Plomari. 20 Therefore we
can consider that traditional olive mills began to be replaced in the 1860s, more rapidly by
the end of the 19 th century and the beginning of the 20 th . In his report of 1913, Sofianopoulos
states that there were 101 steam powered mills on the island. 21 In them 5-8 workers and
craftsmen, along with porters, worked on a seasonal basis. Most commonly, there was one
mill mechanism itself with two or three presses, operating 4-6 months a year, depending on
olive production. 22
The mills were always one-storey buildings. The exterior walls were built with
masonry from local stone and mortar from pumice, lime and sea sand. These walls were
usually left uncoated. In smaller places (such as at Polichnitos), the machinery and the olive
stores were concentrated into one building. In the larger ones, which made up the majority,
the stores where olives were kept were placed around the main building, often forming an
enclosure.
Fig. 20. Typical mill complex at Skala Pamfilon Lesvos (Sifounakis 1986:91).
As regards the operating arrangements, the main building was divided into three main
areas: a) the large hall with the main mechanical equipment (mills, presses and pumps) for
processing olives and production of oil and b) two smaller rooms of almost the same size, one
containing the steam engine, the other the boiler, communicating both between themselves
and with the large room.
Outside the main building, and almost touching it, there was a tapered chimney built
of solid brick, with square, round or octagonal cross section. The boiler burnt olive pits,
producing steam to drive the steam engine. Besides one tubular boiler (built in Smyrna), all
the rest were cylindrical types made in the UK, France, Greece (from Smyrna, Piraeus, and
Lesvos) and Belgium. 23 The front of the boiler was a circular plate of steel, or kathreftis, with
a boiler access door.
Fig. 21. The kathreftis, with its boiler access door.
A cylinder made from steel plates, joined by rivets, constituted the main body of the
boiler. The dimensions were from 4 to 9 metres in length and 1.60 to 2.20 metres in diameter.
A second cylinder, the hearth drum, was placed centrally within this, and was made of the same material. The space between the outer and inner cylinders made up the ꞌsteam drumꞌ,
where the water was converted into steam which initiated motion. The water level in the
chamber had to cover the top of the hearth drum by about 10 cm. Inside the hearth drum, and,
extending for about half the length of the furnace, a grate was placed, where the pits were
burnt. The role of the grate was twofold. Air passed through its holes fueling combustion,
while the ash fell through them into receptacles. A cast iron disc with two doors blocked the
opening of the inner cylinder. The part of this internal cylinder containing the grate was
called the hearth. On the front of the boiler a bronze gauge showed the operating pressure, whilst two other glass gauges showed the water level inside the water chamber. The operating pressure almost always varied between 90 and 125 (and rarely 150) pounds per square inch,
depending on the construction of the boiler. 24 Feeding the hearth with pits was done by
shovel, which was the duty of the fireman.
Around the front of the boiler and along all its length there was a construction built of
firebrick, both supporting the boiler and providing the necessary insulation. The space
between the cylindrical surface of the boiler and this structure also allowed smoke to move
up towards the chimney. The boiler was placed in the middle of the boiler room, its axis of
symmetry parallel to the length of the room. The steam drum and the main steam pipe with
the steam valve, and the safety valves, came out of the middle of the top of the boiler. There
was also a pipe, perpendicular to the main steam pipe that passed through the roof, which
supported and provided the whistle with steam. The steam moved through the main steam
pipe from the boiler to the steam engine, the supply controlled by a valve.
Since it was usually an open-cycle installation, the steam, after expansion in the engine,
escaped into the atmosphere in the form of water vapour. This loss of water from the boiler
meant that it needed to be continually filled up. The fireman used a valve on the front of the
boiler to control the flow of water, supplied by a pump driven by the engine. The water was
stored in a tank (usually outdoors) reserved especially for this purpose. A door separated the
boiler from the neighbouring engine room. The engine was placed on a solidly built base in
the middle of the engine room, alongside and very close to the wall. The stationary engines
used in oil production were horizontal, with a length of between 2.5 and 6 metres, width of
0.50 metres without the crank, and a height of between 0.60 and 1.30 metres without the
flywheel. The actual power has been estimated to between 10 bHp in smaller ones and up to
150 bHp in the largest. 25 Machines of this size in power were twin cylinder, with the first
cylinder high-pressure and the second low. The two cylinders were in series and connected to
each other mechanically by a piston. In the first cylinder the steam entered at the pressure
produced in the boiler, while in the second the steam from the first cylinder expanded. A
pipe allowed the expanded steam to escape from the low-pressure cylinder into the
atmosphere.
Fig. 22. Engine. 1. Low-pressure cylinder 2. High Pressure Cylinder (Plytas 2007:16).
In the Community Engine at Agia Paraskevi, Lesvos, steam was first directed to the
heater to provide some of the energy still remaining, and then released into the atmosphere.
Water from the heater was then directed to the boiler. In a few cases in small mills on Lesvos,
steam engines had only one cylinder. Steam engines used on Lesvos were of the same origin
as the boilers.
Power from the steam engine was transmitted by a belt to a drive shaft mounted on
metal brackets, high up on the wall of the building and running along its entire length. In its
turn, the drive shaft, via belts, provided the press pumps and grinders with energy. Each
pump and each grinder had a ꞌfixed pulleyꞌ and a ꞌloose pulleyꞌ to selectively link it, through
its respective belt, to this central axial system. Each machine was activated or deactivated by
moving the belt to the fixed or loose pulley, so that it would be respectively connected to or
disconnected from the main drive shaft, depending on the needs of the factory.
Fig. 23. Olive oil mill grinder.
The mill where olives were ground comprised of two cylindrical millstones vertically
placed opposite each other. Together they were surrounded by a wooden or metal enclosure,
forming a truncated cone-shaped bucket. They were connected to a vertical metal shaft with a
fixed gear at its upper end. The mill was driven by the main drive shaft via this gear. In a few
cases the vertical shaft, projecting from the bottom of the mill, and the gear by which it was
driven, was fastened at its lower end.
Fig. 24. Olive oil mill press.
The role of each pump was to send water under pressure to the piston located at the
base of a press. Thus the mill had as many pumps as it had presses. Water pressure caused the
piston to rise upwards and, as it did so, it raised the slab which was mounted above. On the
slab about 50 sacks, made of hair containing crushed olives, were stacked on top of each
other. As the piston rose the sacks were pressed against the top of the press, the kefalari, and
thus the oil was squeezed out and it poured into a dish. A tube came out from the front of the
dish, through which the oil flowed into a metal container that stood in front of the press.
Separation of the oil took place in the metal container.
On Chios, it is known that a steam mill was founded in 1939 by the two Ploumis
brothers in the Kardamados area of Campos.
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στην Αγία Παρασκευή Λέσβου (Αθήνα)].
Sofianopoulos Ath.I., (1913) "On industrial drive in the island of Lesbos", in Studies on Islands,on Islands, vol.
Ι. Lesvos (Mytilene), pp. 9-39 [Σοφιανόπουλος, Αθ.Ι., (1913) «Περί της βιομηχανικής
κινήσεως εν τη νήσω Λέσβω», στο Μελέται περί των Νήσων, τ. Α΄ Λέσβος (Μυτιλήνη), σ. 9-
39].
Voutyras, S.I., (1888) Dictionary of History and Geography, vol. 5, Neologos (Istanbul) [Βουτυράς,
Σ.Ι., (1888) Λεξικόν Ιστορίας και Γεωγραφίας, τ. 5, Νεολόγος (Κωνσταντινούπολη)].
1 LAMB 1936,40.
2 DRACHMANN 1932, 7-46.
3 AMOURETTI 1986, 166.40.
4 KIOURELLIS 2005, 39.
5 BOARDMAN 1958-1959, 303-304, fig.6.
6 KIOURELLIS – KIOURELLIS 2008, 26; KIOURELLIS 2011, 25.
7 KIOURELLIS – KIOURELLIS 2008, 101, pic. 5.
8 KIOURELLIS 2011, 173.
9 KIOURELLIS 2011, 47.
10 KIOURELLIS 2005, 86.
11 DRACHMANN 1932, 97.
12 BOARDMAN1958-1959, 303-304, fig. 6.
13 KIOURELLIS 2011, 59.
14 KIOURELLIS 2005, 61.
15 KIOURELLIS 2011, 61.
16 KIOURELLIS 2011, 70
17 KIOURELLIS 2011, 82.
18 KIOURELLIS – KIOURELLIS 2008, 282.
19 KIOURELLIS – KIOURELLIS 2008, 282.
20 VOUTYRAS 1888, 588, issue 5.
21 SOFIANOPOULOS 1913, 11.
22 SIFNAIOU 2007, 15.
23 SOFIANOPOULOS 1913, 11.
24 PLYTAS 2007, 12.
25 PLYTAS 2007, 18.
GREEK MILLS
Pre-industrial and early industrial mills in
the northeastern Aegean (Lesvos, Chios)
Alexandros Kiourellis
Since antiquity, and indeed until a few decades ago, the extraction of oil from the fruit of the
olive tree was done in three distinct stages. In the first stage the olives were crushed and
ground to a paste. In the second the paste was compressed using various types of presses to
extract the juice. In the third stage the oil was separated from other kinds of olive juice, the
solid residues of the olive flesh, and the water used during the pressing stage. In primitive oil
mills the first two stages merged into one.
Pre-industrial era
The pressing of the olives
The first evidence for olive crushing on Lesvos and Chios comes from excavations made bythe British archaeologist, W. Lamb, at the prehistoric settlement of Thermi. There, between
five consecutive settlement layers of the Early Bronze Age (2800-2000 BC), a shallow
oblong stone basin was found and was considered to have been used for olive crushing. 1
From this distant era until about 400 BC there are no written records or finds from
excavations that could provide clues to the technology of olive oil production over this long
period.
The trapetum
The trapetum is the primary type of the Greek olive oil mill. From archaeological finds, it
has been possible to form a detailed description of the mill. 2
Fig. 1. Trapetum basin in Flatsia Chios (Kiourellis 2011:21).
According to Amouretti, 3 during the 4 th and 3 rd centuries BC, the trapetum evolved from
much older mills and extraction methods, and arrived at its final form in the 2 nd century BC.
On Lesvos we have identified and recorded 29 basins and 25 millstones from trapeta, 4 all
carved from reddish-gray volcanic rock. None of them has been recovered from excavations,
and this, amongst other things, makes it very difficult or impossible for them to be dated.
However, most were discovered in Byzantine settlements, which leads us to believe that the
trapetum was used on Lesvos until the Byzantine period. All millstones are lentiform, with a
square hole in the middle.
Fig. 2. Trapetum millstone in Vrahias area of Clio on Lesvos (Kiourellis 2005:25).
At Pindaka on Chios two millstones have been found. One of them has two flat sides and the
surfaces between are curved, whilst the hole in the centre is square. The other is lentiform
with a round hole in the centre. 5 We have identified five basins and two millstones in our
field research. The millstones are lenticular in shape and the hole in the middle is round.
The mill with one mill stone
On Lesvos and Chios, the trapetum was gradually replaced by a mill in which the millstone
grinding the olives into a paste had a truncated conical shape. 6. On Chios this mill is called the
mill with one stone. Our view is that on Lesvos use of this type of mill ceased in the last
decades of the 19 th century, so we actually do not know how they were made and how they
were operated. However, on Chios this type of mill was in operation until 1965. Some mills
are still preserved in very good condition, and people who worked in them are still alive.
Fig. 3. Mill with truncated cone-shaped stone in the olive oil mill of Giannis and Eugenia
Giannomorou in Pityos Chios (Kiourellis 2011:37).
The mill in Notiochora Chios (the villages in the south of the island) is called mantra.
The main parts of this mill type are, the base, the slab (the lower millstone) - on which
olives were ground, the kylintro (mill stone) and the vertical shaft. In the old mills,
was a shallow circular basin with a flat bottom. It had a raised vertical peripheral rim and a
cylindrical hole through its centre. A cylindrical piece of timber of the same size was fixed
into this hole. In the centre of this piece of timber there was a second hole, into which the
lower end of the rotating vertical mill shaft was placed.
Fig. 4. Mill with truncated cone-shaped stone in the olive oil mill of Dim. Niamonitis in
Kourounia, Chios (Kiourellis 2011:38).
In more recent mills, still preserved, the slab, or lower millstone, consists of wide
stones joined together to form a circular flat surface (as in fig. 4), the upper part of which is
surrounded by a metal band, 12 to 15 cm in width and 0.6 cm thick, called the gyros tis
petras. In this way a shallow pan is formed, approximately 9 cm in depth, so that the olives
and olive paste are contained. At the centre of this stone there is a rectangular or square
depression called the folia (nest). A piece of iron of the same dimensions, known as the
malama, is placed into the folia. There is a depression, 2.5 cm in diameter and 2.5 cm in
depth, at the centre of the malama, in which the vertical shaft of the mill turns.
The millstone, or kylintro, is in the shape of a truncated cone and rotates on the slab.
These mill stones range from 50 to 100 cm in length; however, most are approximately 85
cm. In the centre of both types of base there is also a truncated conical recess called the
efalos (navel), around 8 cm in depth and 8 cm in diameter.
In the centre of the stone base there was a vertical shaft, the
orthostatis, usually made of wood. A small metal shaft, known as the psili, was
fixed to the lower end of the orthostatis. The psili, and along with it the whole shaft,
turned inside the recess at the centre of the malama. The top of the orthostasis
rotated in a socket, which was usually mounted on the side of one of the supporting
roof beams of the olive mill, or it could also be mounted on the side of a thick beam
fixed between two opposite walls.
The millstone has a horizontal wooden frame, rectangular in shape, called the
mantrosia. The frame is mounted on the vertical shaft. As the animal was strapped to the
frame post, it moved around the base of the mill, turning the vertical shaft along with the
millstone and its frame at the same time. The millstone performed two movements, one
around itself and another around a vertical axis, passing over the olives spread out on the slab
and cutting (grinding) them. Thus the hamour, the olive paste, was produced.
On Nisyros the millstone rotation mechanism was slightly different from that found
on Chios. The vertical shaft did not rotate together with the millstone, but was fixed to the
centre of the stone base and the roof of the olive oil mill. The frame surrounding the millstone
and the millstone itself rotated together around the fixed vertical shaft. As there is no
information on the construction components of this type of mill on Lesvos, this poses the
question as to whether they were like those of Chios or those of Nisyros. However, due to
the similarity of the shape and size of millstones we could consider it possible that the mills
of Lesvos were similar to the mills of Chios.
The mill with cylindrical millstone
On Lesvos, from the early 1840s the mill with one stone began to be replaced by another
mill type, where there was an upright cylindrical stone. 7 In Chios this transition failed to take
place, so there were no mills with a single upright cylindrical millstone. Rather, they moved
immediately to the next stage in development, with two upright cylindrical millstones. On
Lesvos the prevalence of steam-powered mills from the last decades of the 19 th century
onwards meant that mills with an upright cylindrical millstone were only used for a few
decades, and the mills with two upright stones were never used. 8
Fig. 5. Mill with a cylindrical millstone in the olive oil mill of Samaradellis in Antissa
(Kiourellis 2011:174).
In the mills with cylindrical millstones, there was a cylindrical slab on which a shallow
circular basin was mounted. The basin was called katopetra or kato petra (bottom stone).
On top of this an upright cylindrical millstone was placed, called the 'epano petra; (upper
stone), or simply petra (stone). A socket was carved out of the centre of the basin, in which
the vertical post turned. The upper end of the post rotated in another suitably shaped socket in
the roof beam. The vertical millstone had in its centre a hole through which the horizontal
shaft passed. This shaft in Agra is called the helm of the stone. One end of this shaft was
fixed to the vertical post, and the other end was strapped onto an animal, which as it moved
around the base, turned the grindstone. In the last mills of this type (operating on Lesvos), the
slab was surrounded by a metal or wooden enclosure, wider in diameter at the top and smaller
at the bottom, between 40 and 50 cm deep. It was called tsanaklik or kasnak. In this way the
katopetra together with tsanaklik formed a basin, deep enough to allow a greater quantity of
olives for every grinding.
The mill with double stones (or with upright stones)
In Chios, as has been already noted, there was no stage with one single cylindrical millstone.
The mill with one stone was gradually replaced by the more sophisticated type with two
cylindrical millstones, called the mill with double millstones. The millstones rotated in a
vertical plane, opposite each other. Thus the mill was also called the mill with the upright
stones. Both these types of mill have been described in detail. 9
Fig. 6. Mill with double mill stones in the olive oil mill of Andreas Galatoulas, in Melanios,
Chios (Kiourellis 2011:49).
The pressing of the olive paste
The paste produced when grinding olives must be processed further to produce oil. In the
monastery courtyard of Our Lady Rouhouniotissa at Katarraktis, Chios there is a flat stone
123 cm in length, 85 cm in width and 35 cm thick.
Fig. 7. Compression slab for olive paste in the monastery of Our Lady of Rouhouniotissa at
Kataraktis Chios (Kiourellis 2011:132).
On the top there is a round surface surrounded by a circular groove. Next to the round surface
are two cylindrical depressions, 34 cm in diameter and 22 cm deep, connected together by a
groove. Another groove joins the circular groove to the depression on the left, as can be seen
in the picture. It would appear that the round surface was for pressing mashed fruit, the juice
of which flowed along the grooves and into the left depression. In this depression separation
occurred through the process of flotation, allowing oil to gather in the other depression. 10 A
little further away, two millstones were found, so it seems that the monastery had its own
olive oil mill and this stone perhaps comes from some type of press. In Vessa, people
confirmed that such a stone was found a few years earlier in a side street of the village, and
next to it there was a wide heavy stone slab leant against a wall. The oldest of the villagers
remembered that ground olives were placed in goat hair sacks, the sacks were then placed on
the round surface with the groove, with the slab placed on top and left overnight. In all, we
have identified five pressing base slabs similar to that of Our Lady of Rouhouniotissa on
Chios.
Olive press with a lever
Our findings show that on Lesvos the type of oil press with a lever was widespread. A beam
or lever had one end anchored to a fixed point, and beneath the lever there was a stone base,
the linos, on which the crushed olives were pressed. In the simplest and oldest type of olive
press the pressure was exerted by stone weights hung on the free end of the lever. On Lesvos
no stone weights such as these have been identified thus far.
Fig. 8. Reconstruction drawing of olive oil press in Nicosia, Cyprus (Hadjisavvas 1992:33,
pic. 59).
In the next stage in the development of these olive presses, the free end of the lever
was pulled downwards by a windlass (as in fig. 9), and later a screw was used (as in fig. 10).
The windlass and screw were mounted on a massive monolith. On Lesvos more than 90 such
monoliths have been identified, described, and classified into categories, but there are many
more. 10 In the vast majority, the horizontal cross section is rectangular in shape; in a very few
it is square. In some cases monoliths have been carved from stones once in buildings, so there
are a variety of shapes. In most cases a notch starts at the top of both the shorter sides of the
monolith, and goes down in the direction of its base.
Fig. 10. Reconstruction Drawing of an olive press on the plain of Kouris on Cyprus (S.
Hadjisavvas 1992:53, fig. 87).
Fig. 11. Monolith from an olive press with a lever in Souk Roumani Sikamia Lesvos
(Kiourellis 2005:87).
In type A monoliths, notches extend from the upper surface to a point above the base,
while in type B monoliths, the notches are along their whole height. The notches held two
short vertical pieces of wood that supported the windlass or screw. In the vast majority, these
notches are substantially narrower at the top than at the bottom, making it impossible for the
vertical pieces of wood to move upwards. In monolith type A2 and B2 a groove runs along
the length of the upper surface from one end to the other. Within this, a wooden or iron link
was placed, and passed through the two vertical wooden beams to hold them in position. The
wooden windlass mechanism was mounted on both these types of monolith. In the centre of
the top surface of the monolith type A3 and B3 there is circular depression inside which the
lower portion of the screw rotates (as in fig. 12). 11
Fig. 12. Monolith of olive press lever in Asomatos, Lesvos (Kiourellis 2005:96).
Figs. 13. Possible stone weight from an olive press used with a lever at Pyrgi Chios
(Kiourellis 2011:58).
In Pindaka on Chios stone weights were found in the past. 12 Also on Chios we found
two more blocks of stone whose form suggests that they could have been used as olive press
weights. One is located in Pyrgi (as in fig. 13), and the other in the Klidi area of Vrontados. 13
On Chios, in the Paragkli area of Sykiada village we also identified a type B2 monolith
suitable for supporting the windlass mechanism. In the Chios museum there are two more
monoliths with the characteristic depression on the top surface showing the use of the screw.
The linos.
The linos is a stone base for pressing the olive paste. It is a shallow stone basin with a spout
(Type A) or a round, rectangular or oval stone slab on which a circular groove is carved
leading to a spout (Type B). 14
Fig. 14. Linos in Pattia Pamfilon on Lesvos (Kiourellis 2005:85).
On the linos, sacks made of goat hair or reed, were piled, full of ground olives. These sacks
were pressed in such a way that the oil ran into a receptacle placed at a lower level than the
linos, the ypolinio. In Mana, Gera the only linos with two pressing surfaces on Lesvos was
found. It is carved from a large block of stone, its current length is 200 cm and its width is
100 cm. The original length was estimated to be 225 cm.
Fig. 15. Double linos at Mana, Gera, Lesvos (Kiourellis 2005:67).
The wooden press
Both on Lesbos and Chios a wooden press with a screw was widely used for exerting
pressure directly onto the olive paste. 15
Fig. 16. Wooden styraki press from the olive oil mill of Sophia Paidousis in Kambos, Chios (Kiourellis 2011:60).
The olive press was called baski on Lesvos andstyraki on Chios. The central screw, or
threaded bolt, was called adrahti. Some presses had one adrahti, others two. The base of the
press is a wooden block, the katotrapezo. The compression surface was in the centre of the base of the press, where they placed the petsetes (goat hair sacks) containing the olive paste, one on top of the other. The compression surface is surrounded by a groove, oil flowing out of the base at its front into a receptacle placed underneath. At Pirama the base of the press was made of oak.
On both ends of the press base there are notches into which vertical posts are placed,
the orthi. Another horizontal wooden beam, known as the vordoni, or top beam is fixed to
the top of these posts. It is about the same length and width as the base of the press, but much
thicker and greater in height. In the centre of this top beam; there is a carved nut in which the
adrahti turns. The upper portion of the adrahti has its thread. The lower part is cylindrical
on Chios, and has flat sides in Lesvos. Two cylindrical horizontal holes, 10 cm in diameter,
run through it. One is a little higher than the other and they are placed perpendicular to each
other. In these holes a long wooden lever, the manella, was placed. When the lever was
turned clockwise, the screw rotated and at the same time moved downwards. The plakotari, a
piece of wood a little shorter in length and width than the base, was joined to the lower end of
the screw. As the screw, or adrahti, turned downwards, it took the plakotari with it. The
plakotari exerted pressure on the sacks containing the olive paste and thus the oil was
extracted. To exert greater pressure on the olive paste, the botzargati, or ergati, (a wooden
windlass) was used. It was a shaft made of hard wood that rotated vertically around its axis,
mounted on appropriate sockets in the floor and ceiling. As it was turned it wound a chain or
thick rope, the palamari, one end of which was fixed to the wooden windlass and the other
end to the lever, the manella. In this way the lever was pulled to the right, causing the
adrahti, the screw, to turn.
The intermediate press
In the course of the evolution of the press some parts began to be made out of metal. 16
Initially the wooden adrahti was replaced by an iron vida, or bolt, and the top beam was
equipped with an iron female nut. In the next stage of development, all the parts of the press
were made of metal - except the base, which was either wooden or stone.
The iron press
All parts of the iron press are made of metal. 17 On Chios many olive oil mills that adopted
iron presses continued to use the wooden windlass to exert more pressure, but in most it was
replaced by a metal winch. On Lesbos the metal winch was not used, and the last oil presses
on the island used the wooden windlass.
Fig. 17. Iron styraki press from olive oil mill of Samaradellis in Delfonia, Antissa
(Kiourellis, Kiourellis 2008:221).
Separation of oil: The polimi (vessel used to collect oil)
The third stage of oil extraction is when oil is separated from the other juices of the olive and
from the water used in the compression of the olive paste. This separation was done in a stone
or wooden container placed in front and slightly below the base of the press.
Fig. 18. Wooden polimi tub at Milies, Lesvos (Kiourellis, Kiourellis 2008:197).
The vessel is called polimi on Lesvos and in Armolia, Chios gourni. The inside of some oil
collecting vessels consists of a single space, whilst in most of the others one or two partitions
divide the interior into two or three sub-spaces which communicate with each other through a
groove on the top of the partition. Oil and water flowed from the press into the oil collecting
vessels. The oil, since it is lighter, rose to the top and was taken off using another, shallow,
vessel. When oil collecting vessels had two spaces, the oil together with the water flowed into
the first of them. As the oil rose to the top, it would reach the groove in the partition and flow
into the next one, taking along with it a small amount of water.
Fig. 19. Stone polimi tub at Kapi Lesvos (Kiourellis, Kiourellis 2008:198).
If the oil collecting vessel had a second partition, then the groove of the second partition
channeled even clearer oil into the third space. What was left in the first compartment was
called amourgi (dregs). The Vassilis Malas oil collecting vessel in Halandra was made of
pine wood. In Pirama the oil collecting vessels were made from oak or plane tree.
Early industrial era
Steam-driven olive oil mills
As in animal-driven olive oil mills, so in steam-driven mills, olive processing took place in
three stages: the olives were ground, the olive paste was pressed, and the oil separated off.
Thus three mechanisms were needed, one for each stage, but in the steam-driven mills a
boiler was needed to generate steam and a steam engine to drive the machines. In 1853 the
first steam mill on Lesvos worked on the waterfront of Mytilene, the Koulaxizidon mill. 18
This mill was very soon destroyed by fire, but we can consider this date to be when the first
animal driven mill on Lesbos was replaced. The second one, Fidele-Nefi, was set up at
Skopelos, Gera in 1863. 19 In 1869 four steam mills were operating in Plomari. 20 Therefore we
can consider that traditional olive mills began to be replaced in the 1860s, more rapidly by
the end of the 19 th century and the beginning of the 20 th . In his report of 1913, Sofianopoulos
states that there were 101 steam powered mills on the island. 21 In them 5-8 workers and
craftsmen, along with porters, worked on a seasonal basis. Most commonly, there was one
mill mechanism itself with two or three presses, operating 4-6 months a year, depending on
olive production. 22
The mills were always one-storey buildings. The exterior walls were built with
masonry from local stone and mortar from pumice, lime and sea sand. These walls were
usually left uncoated. In smaller places (such as at Polichnitos), the machinery and the olive
stores were concentrated into one building. In the larger ones, which made up the majority,
the stores where olives were kept were placed around the main building, often forming an
enclosure.
Fig. 20. Typical mill complex at Skala Pamfilon Lesvos (Sifounakis 1986:91).
As regards the operating arrangements, the main building was divided into three main
areas: a) the large hall with the main mechanical equipment (mills, presses and pumps) for
processing olives and production of oil and b) two smaller rooms of almost the same size, one
containing the steam engine, the other the boiler, communicating both between themselves
and with the large room.
Outside the main building, and almost touching it, there was a tapered chimney built
of solid brick, with square, round or octagonal cross section. The boiler burnt olive pits,
producing steam to drive the steam engine. Besides one tubular boiler (built in Smyrna), all
the rest were cylindrical types made in the UK, France, Greece (from Smyrna, Piraeus, and
Lesvos) and Belgium. 23 The front of the boiler was a circular plate of steel, or kathreftis, with
a boiler access door.
Fig. 21. The kathreftis, with its boiler access door.
A cylinder made from steel plates, joined by rivets, constituted the main body of the
boiler. The dimensions were from 4 to 9 metres in length and 1.60 to 2.20 metres in diameter.
A second cylinder, the hearth drum, was placed centrally within this, and was made of the same material. The space between the outer and inner cylinders made up the ꞌsteam drumꞌ,
where the water was converted into steam which initiated motion. The water level in the
chamber had to cover the top of the hearth drum by about 10 cm. Inside the hearth drum, and,
extending for about half the length of the furnace, a grate was placed, where the pits were
burnt. The role of the grate was twofold. Air passed through its holes fueling combustion,
while the ash fell through them into receptacles. A cast iron disc with two doors blocked the
opening of the inner cylinder. The part of this internal cylinder containing the grate was
called the hearth. On the front of the boiler a bronze gauge showed the operating pressure, whilst two other glass gauges showed the water level inside the water chamber. The operating pressure almost always varied between 90 and 125 (and rarely 150) pounds per square inch,
depending on the construction of the boiler. 24 Feeding the hearth with pits was done by
shovel, which was the duty of the fireman.
Around the front of the boiler and along all its length there was a construction built of
firebrick, both supporting the boiler and providing the necessary insulation. The space
between the cylindrical surface of the boiler and this structure also allowed smoke to move
up towards the chimney. The boiler was placed in the middle of the boiler room, its axis of
symmetry parallel to the length of the room. The steam drum and the main steam pipe with
the steam valve, and the safety valves, came out of the middle of the top of the boiler. There
was also a pipe, perpendicular to the main steam pipe that passed through the roof, which
supported and provided the whistle with steam. The steam moved through the main steam
pipe from the boiler to the steam engine, the supply controlled by a valve.
Since it was usually an open-cycle installation, the steam, after expansion in the engine,
escaped into the atmosphere in the form of water vapour. This loss of water from the boiler
meant that it needed to be continually filled up. The fireman used a valve on the front of the
boiler to control the flow of water, supplied by a pump driven by the engine. The water was
stored in a tank (usually outdoors) reserved especially for this purpose. A door separated the
boiler from the neighbouring engine room. The engine was placed on a solidly built base in
the middle of the engine room, alongside and very close to the wall. The stationary engines
used in oil production were horizontal, with a length of between 2.5 and 6 metres, width of
0.50 metres without the crank, and a height of between 0.60 and 1.30 metres without the
flywheel. The actual power has been estimated to between 10 bHp in smaller ones and up to
150 bHp in the largest. 25 Machines of this size in power were twin cylinder, with the first
cylinder high-pressure and the second low. The two cylinders were in series and connected to
each other mechanically by a piston. In the first cylinder the steam entered at the pressure
produced in the boiler, while in the second the steam from the first cylinder expanded. A
pipe allowed the expanded steam to escape from the low-pressure cylinder into the
atmosphere.
Fig. 22. Engine. 1. Low-pressure cylinder 2. High Pressure Cylinder (Plytas 2007:16).
In the Community Engine at Agia Paraskevi, Lesvos, steam was first directed to the
heater to provide some of the energy still remaining, and then released into the atmosphere.
Water from the heater was then directed to the boiler. In a few cases in small mills on Lesvos,
steam engines had only one cylinder. Steam engines used on Lesvos were of the same origin
as the boilers.
Power from the steam engine was transmitted by a belt to a drive shaft mounted on
metal brackets, high up on the wall of the building and running along its entire length. In its
turn, the drive shaft, via belts, provided the press pumps and grinders with energy. Each
pump and each grinder had a ꞌfixed pulleyꞌ and a ꞌloose pulleyꞌ to selectively link it, through
its respective belt, to this central axial system. Each machine was activated or deactivated by
moving the belt to the fixed or loose pulley, so that it would be respectively connected to or
disconnected from the main drive shaft, depending on the needs of the factory.
Fig. 23. Olive oil mill grinder.
The mill where olives were ground comprised of two cylindrical millstones vertically
placed opposite each other. Together they were surrounded by a wooden or metal enclosure,
forming a truncated cone-shaped bucket. They were connected to a vertical metal shaft with a
fixed gear at its upper end. The mill was driven by the main drive shaft via this gear. In a few
cases the vertical shaft, projecting from the bottom of the mill, and the gear by which it was
driven, was fastened at its lower end.
Fig. 24. Olive oil mill press.
The role of each pump was to send water under pressure to the piston located at the
base of a press. Thus the mill had as many pumps as it had presses. Water pressure caused the
piston to rise upwards and, as it did so, it raised the slab which was mounted above. On the
slab about 50 sacks, made of hair containing crushed olives, were stacked on top of each
other. As the piston rose the sacks were pressed against the top of the press, the kefalari, and
thus the oil was squeezed out and it poured into a dish. A tube came out from the front of the
dish, through which the oil flowed into a metal container that stood in front of the press.
Separation of the oil took place in the metal container.
On Chios, it is known that a steam mill was founded in 1939 by the two Ploumis
brothers in the Kardamados area of Campos.
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1 LAMB 1936,40.
2 DRACHMANN 1932, 7-46.
3 AMOURETTI 1986, 166.40.
4 KIOURELLIS 2005, 39.
5 BOARDMAN 1958-1959, 303-304, fig.6.
6 KIOURELLIS – KIOURELLIS 2008, 26; KIOURELLIS 2011, 25.
7 KIOURELLIS – KIOURELLIS 2008, 101, pic. 5.
8 KIOURELLIS 2011, 173.
9 KIOURELLIS 2011, 47.
10 KIOURELLIS 2005, 86.
11 DRACHMANN 1932, 97.
12 BOARDMAN1958-1959, 303-304, fig. 6.
13 KIOURELLIS 2011, 59.
14 KIOURELLIS 2005, 61.
15 KIOURELLIS 2011, 61.
16 KIOURELLIS 2011, 70
17 KIOURELLIS 2011, 82.
18 KIOURELLIS – KIOURELLIS 2008, 282.
19 KIOURELLIS – KIOURELLIS 2008, 282.
20 VOUTYRAS 1888, 588, issue 5.
21 SOFIANOPOULOS 1913, 11.
22 SIFNAIOU 2007, 15.
23 SOFIANOPOULOS 1913, 11.
24 PLYTAS 2007, 12.
25 PLYTAS 2007, 18.
