Oil Press
Oil is extracted from the olives by pressing. They had to be crushed under considerable weight. There were different kinds of olive press, but the basic idea was to roll a heavy stone over the olives. This kind of press is pictured at the bottom: Persons or animals moved a smaller stone in which a long pole was inserted over a large cylindrical stone. Another method to press olives is illustrated at the top: The olives were put into special baskets that were placed under a log anchored in a wall. The long log had heavy stones attached and acted as a kind of fulcrum on the olives. The fulcrum produced weight on the olives—or on the tiny bags with the pulp and seeds that resulted from crashing the olives -, squeezing the oil out.
1 Kings 5:11; Job 24:11
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