The digging season carried out in 2003 in the site of Los Villares-Montealto allowed for the open area excavation of a substantial manufacturing quarter dating to the Early Roman Empire. It was the pottery workshop known in the literature as Rabaton, after the estate on the hillside of Cerro de Montealto, of which only amphorae of the Beltron II B type were previously known, due to the sporadic nature of finds. The excavation of the site uncovered features corresponding to two production phases, producing amphorae of the Dressel 9/10, Oberaden 83 and Dressel 10B types (first phase) and Beltron IIB type (second phase), along with other coarse wares. According to the fine table wares found, the first phase must date to the first half of the 1st Century A. D., whereas the second would fall in the late 1st and the first half of the 2nd century A. D. It is possible that the workshop remained active in a different location within the estate of Los Villares in the second half of the 2nd century A. D., engaged in the production of amphorae of the evolved Beltran II B and Puerto Real 1 types.
