diff --git a/swh/provenance/cli.py b/swh/provenance/cli.py
--- a/swh/provenance/cli.py
+++ b/swh/provenance/cli.py
@@ -127,16 +127,16 @@
     """Process a provided list of revisions."""
     from . import get_archive, get_provenance
     from .provenance import revision_add
-    from .revision import FileRevisionIterator
+    from .revision import CSVRevisionIterator
 
     archive = get_archive(**ctx.obj["config"]["archive"])
     provenance = get_provenance(**ctx.obj["config"]["provenance"])
-    revisions = FileRevisionIterator(filename, archive, limit=limit)
+    revisions_provider = (
+        line.strip().split(",") for line in open(filename, "r") if line.strip()
+    )
+    revisions = CSVRevisionIterator(revisions_provider, archive, limit=limit)
 
-    while True:
-        revision = revisions.next()
-        if revision is None:
-            break
+    for revision in revisions:
         revision_add(provenance, archive, revision)
 
 
diff --git a/swh/provenance/revision.py b/swh/provenance/revision.py
--- a/swh/provenance/revision.py
+++ b/swh/provenance/revision.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 from datetime import datetime
+from itertools import islice
 import threading
-from typing import Optional
+from typing import Iterable, Iterator, Optional, Tuple
 
 from swh.model.hashutil import hash_to_bytes
 
@@ -44,45 +45,45 @@
 ########################################################################################
 
 
-class RevisionIterator:
-    """Iterator interface."""
+class CSVRevisionIterator:
+    """Iterator over revisions typically present in the given CSV file.
 
-    def __iter__(self):
-        pass
-
-    def __next__(self):
-        pass
+    The input is an iterator that produces 3 elements per row:
 
+      (id, date, root)
 
-class FileRevisionIterator(RevisionIterator):
-    """Iterator over revisions present in the given CSV file."""
+    where:
+    - id: is the id (sha1_git) of the revision
+    - date: is the author date
+    - root: sha1 of the directory
+    """
 
     def __init__(
-        self, filename: str, archive: ArchiveInterface, limit: Optional[int] = None
+        self,
+        revisions: Iterable[Tuple[bytes, datetime, bytes]],
+        archive: ArchiveInterface,
+        limit: Optional[int] = None,
     ):
-        self.file = open(filename)
-        self.idx = 0
-        self.limit = limit
+        self.revisions: Iterator[Tuple[bytes, datetime, bytes]]
+        if limit is not None:
+            self.revisions = islice(revisions, limit)
+        else:
+            self.revisions = iter(revisions)
         self.mutex = threading.Lock()
         self.archive = archive
 
-    def next(self):
-        self.mutex.acquire()
-        line = self.file.readline().strip()
-        if line and (self.limit is None or self.idx < self.limit):
-            self.idx = self.idx + 1
-            id, date, root = line.strip().split(",")
-            self.mutex.release()
+    def __iter__(self):
+        return self
 
+    def __next__(self):
+        with self.mutex:
+            id, date, root = next(self.revisions)
             return RevisionEntry(
                 self.archive,
                 hash_to_bytes(id),
                 date=datetime.fromisoformat(date),
                 root=hash_to_bytes(root),
             )
-        else:
-            self.mutex.release()
-            return None
 
 
 # class ArchiveRevisionIterator(RevisionIterator):
diff --git a/swh/provenance/tests/conftest.py b/swh/provenance/tests/conftest.py
--- a/swh/provenance/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/swh/provenance/tests/conftest.py
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@
 from swh.core.utils import numfile_sortkey as sortkey
 from swh.model.tests.swh_model_data import TEST_OBJECTS
 import swh.provenance
+from swh.provenance.postgresql.archive import ArchivePostgreSQL
+from swh.provenance.storage.archive import ArchiveStorage
 
 SQL_DIR = path.join(path.dirname(swh.provenance.__file__), "sql")
 SQL_FILES = [
@@ -55,3 +57,13 @@
     ):
         getattr(swh_storage, f"{obj_type}_add")(TEST_OBJECTS[obj_type])
     return swh_storage
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def archive_direct(swh_storage_with_objects):
+    return ArchivePostgreSQL(swh_storage_with_objects.get_db().conn)
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def archive_api(swh_storage_with_objects):
+    return ArchiveStorage(swh_storage_with_objects)
diff --git a/swh/provenance/tests/test_revision_iterator.py b/swh/provenance/tests/test_revision_iterator.py
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/swh/provenance/tests/test_revision_iterator.py
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+# Copyright (C) 2021  The Software Heritage developers
+# See the AUTHORS file at the top-level directory of this distribution
+# License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
+# See top-level LICENSE file for more information
+import datetime
+
+from swh.model.model import TimestampWithTimezone
+from swh.model.tests.swh_model_data import TEST_OBJECTS
+from swh.provenance.revision import CSVRevisionIterator
+
+
+def ts_to_dt(ts_with_tz: TimestampWithTimezone) -> datetime.datetime:
+    """converts a TimestampWithTimezone into a datetime"""
+    ts = ts_with_tz.timestamp
+    timestamp = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(ts.seconds, datetime.timezone.utc)
+    timestamp = timestamp.replace(microsecond=ts.microseconds)
+    return timestamp
+
+
+def test_archive_direct_revision_iterator(swh_storage_with_objects, archive_direct):
+    """Test FileOriginIterator"""
+    revisions_csv = [
+        (rev.id, ts_to_dt(rev.date).isoformat(), rev.directory)
+        for rev in TEST_OBJECTS["revision"]
+    ]
+    revisions = list(CSVRevisionIterator(revisions_csv, archive_direct))
+    assert revisions
+    assert len(revisions) == len(TEST_OBJECTS["revision"])