The Precious History of Dakry Olive Oil. From Ancient Messinia to a Modern Mediterranean House.

The fingerprints of olive oil at the Palace of Nestor

The story reaches deep into antiquity. Excavations at the Palace of Nestor near ancient Pylos uncovered around 1,200 clay tablets written in Linear B, offering rare insight into the economy and everyday life of Mycenaean Messinia during the 14th and 13th centuries BC.

Olive oil appears as an important commodity within this organised world. Archaeological evidence from the palace includes storage spaces and vessels associated with oil, while the written records demonstrate that olives and olive products already held economic significance.

Even older traces exist in the region. Olive stones dating to approximately 1900 BC have been discovered at Karpofora, while archaeological and pollen evidence demonstrates the deep roots of olive cultivation in the wider Pylos area.

Methoni and Koroni became gateways of Mediterranean olive oil

As Mediterranean maritime trade expanded, Methoni and Koroni became increasingly important ports for the movement of agricultural goods, including olive oil.

By the later Middle Ages and during Venetian influence in the region, southern Messinia had developed into one of the most important olive growing zones of the Peloponnese.

Olive cultivation was encouraged, production expanded and oil moved through the ports toward the wider Mediterranean and European markets.

The significance of Methoni and Koroni was therefore not accidental. Geography, agricultural knowledge and access to maritime trade combined to turn the southern Messinian landscape into a sophisticated olive oil economy.

When olive cultivation became an organised economic force

During the Venetian periods, policies encouraging cultivation contributed to a further expansion of the Messinian olive landscape.

Historical sources describe extensive olive groves, numerous presses and a thriving system of cultivation, storage, commerce and export centred particularly around Koroni and Methoni.

By the beginning of the 18th century, the scale of production was remarkable.