Archaeologists have uncovered a sprawling Roman olive‑oil production complex in Tunisia’s Kasserine region, featuring a monumental press house with a dozen beam‑presses and a second facility with eight, making it one of the largest in the Roman Empire.
The site, identified as Henchir el Begar on an ancient rural estate known as Saltus Beguensis, covers about 33 hectares and has been under excavation since 2023 by a joint Tunisian, Italian, and Spanish mission led by Prof. Samira Sehili and Prof. Luigi Sperti.
At the heart of the complex is a torcularium, a large olive-pressing hall, equipped with twelve lever presses, used from roughly the 3rd to 6th centuries AD. Nearby, in a second sector of the estate, another facility with eight presses has been identified, indicating a major production capacity.
Ground‑penetrating radar surveys have revealed a dense network of roads, residential structures, and storage installations, suggesting the estate functioned as a well-organised rural community rather than merely a production site. Researchers also found basins, cisterns, and water‑collection systems used to support both oil and grain production, pointing to a mixed agricultural economy.
Surface finds include millstones, grinding tools, and later-period artefacts such as a copper-and-brass bracelet and architectural fragments reused in a Byzantine wall. Inscriptions linked to the estate mention a decree from 138 AD granting a bimonthly market, underscoring the site’s economic and strategic importance in Roman North Africa.
Archaeologists argue that this discovery sheds light on how frontier estates in Roman Africa were deeply integrated into imperial trade networks. Olive oil from this region likely contributed significantly to supply chains across the Mediterranean, reflecting Tunisia’s role as a powerhouse of Roman oil production.
