Ancient Villa and Oil Mill Komunal, Vodnjan

The Komunal archaeological site lies above the Lakun cove, also called Marić, in the area of the Town of Vodnjan in Istria County. Visitors can imagine what a large Roman estate on which olive oil was produced looked like.

The area is marked by numerous mounds, and these are the remains of a large Roman production building. Two monolithic stone basins for crushing olives clearly speak of its original purpose, that is, an oil mill. A large water reservoir has also been preserved, six metres wide and fifteen metres long, and up to 2.5 m high. The ancient villa with its oil mill occupies an area of about 70 x 80 m, and the small archaeological material found is dated from the 1st to the 4th century. From the north towards the west extends a mound 20 m wide and about 300 m long. The visible mounds arose in Roman times by stacking stones cleared from arable land along the edges of plots. By their regular arrangement they record the historical division of land, so-called centuriation.

The site is a protected cultural property and is entered in the Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia under the code Z-7113.

Data: Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia (Ministry of Culture and Media), Open Licence.