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https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683619826654
The Holocene
2019, Vol. 29(5) 902 –922
© The Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/0959683619826654
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Introduction
Olive (Olea europaea L.) is regarded as the most prominent and
probably the most economically important fruit tree of the Medi-
terranean Basin, providing edible fruits and, more importantly,
storable oil. In antiquity, olive oil was used for cooking, lighting,
as well as for cultic and medical purposes (Kaniewski et al., 2012;
Mercuri et al., 2013; Valamoti et al., 2018; Zohary et al., 2012).
Currently, olive orchards constitute a significant component of
food production in the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea.
In the wild, olive (Olea europaea L. subsp. europaea var. sylves-
tris (Mill) Lehr) grows in habitats characterized by a typical Med-
iterranean climate (Figure 1), usually in hilly areas as part of the
The origin and spread of olive
cultivation in the Mediterranean
Basin: The fossil pollen evidence
Dafna Langgut,1 Rachid Cheddadi,2 Josѐ Sebastián Carrión,3
Mark Cavanagh,1 Daniele Colombaroli,4,5 Warren John Eastwood,6
Raphael Greenberg,7 Thomas Litt,8 Anna Maria Mercuri,9
Andrea Miebach,8 C Neil Roberts,10 Henk Woldring11
and Jessie Woodbridge10
Abstract
Olive (Olea europaea L.) was one of the most important fruit trees in the ancient Mediterranean region and a founder species of horticulture in the
Mediterranean Basin. Different views have been expressed regarding the geographical origins and timing of olive cultivation. Since genetic studies and
macro-botanical remains point in different directions, we turn to another proxy – the palynological evidence. This study uses pollen records to shed new
light on the history of olive cultivation and large-scale olive management. We employ a fossil pollen dataset composed of high-resolution pollen records
obtained across the Mediterranean Basin covering most of the Holocene. Human activity is indicated when Olea pollen percentages rise fairly suddenly,
are not accompanied by an increase of other Mediterranean sclerophyllous trees, and when the rise occurs in combination with consistent archaeological
and archaeobotanical evidence. Based on these criteria, our results show that the southern Levant served as the locus of primary olive cultivation as early
as ~6500 years BP (yBP), and that a later, early/mid 6th millennium BP cultivation process occurred in the Aegean (Crete) – whether as an independent
large-scale management event or as a result of knowledge and/or seedling transfer from the southern Levant. Thus, the early management of olive
trees corresponds to the establishment of the Mediterranean village economy and the completion of the ‘secondary products revolution’, rather than
urbanization or state formation. From these two areas of origin, the southern Levant and the Aegean olive cultivation spread across the Mediterranean,
with the beginning of olive horticulture in the northern Levant dated to ~4800 yBP. In Anatolia, large-scale olive horticulture was palynologically recorded
by ~3200 yBP, in mainland Italy at ~3400 yBP, and in the Iberian Peninsula at mid/late 3rd millennium BP.
Keywords
Chalcolithic, horticulture, large-scale olive management, Neolithic, Olea europaea, oleaster, olive cultivation, palynology
Received 16 September 2018; revised manuscript accepted 7 December 2018
1 Institute of Archaeology and The Steinhardt Museum of Natural
History, Tel Aviv University, Israel
2 Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution de Montpellier, Université de
Montpellier, CNRS-UM-IRD, France
3
Departamento de Biología Vegetal, Facultad de Biología, Universidad
de Murcia, Spain
4 Centre for Quaternary Research (CQR), Department of Geography,
Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), UK
5 Paleoecology, Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern,
Switzerland
6
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of
Birmingham, UK
7
Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near East Cultures, Tel Aviv
University, Israel
826654HOL0010.1177/0959683619826654The HoloceneLanggut et al.
research-article2019
Special Issue: The changing face of the Mediterranean: land cover, demography and environmental change
8 Steinmann Institute of Geology, Mineralogy and Palaeontology,
University of Bonn, Germany
9 Laboratorio di Palinologia e Paleobotanica, Dipartimento di Scienze
della Vita, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Italy
10
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of
Plymouth, UK
11 Groningen Institute of Archaeology, University of Groningen, The
Netherlands
Corresponding author:
Dafna Langgut, Institute of Archaeology and The Steinhardt Museum
of Natural History, Tel Aviv University, P.O. Box 39040, Tel Aviv
6997801, Israel.
Email: langgut@tauex.tau.ac.il
Langgut et al. 903
garrigue and maquis, generally among the evergreen vegetation
associations (Zohary, 1973). Whereas the wild olive is considered
a sensitive bioindicator for the Mediterranean bioclimatic zone
(Moriondo et al., 2013; Zohary, 1973), cultivation has caused the
species (Olea europaea subsp. europaea var. sativa) to surpass its
natural bioclimatic limits and to be grown at higher altitudes and
latitudes as well as in areas that are more arid than its wild habi-
tats (Figure 1).
The importance of olive manipulation was highlighted by
Renfrew (1972), who suggested that the emergence of the Myce-
naean and Minoan civilizations was linked to the development of
a polycultural triad of wheat, vine, and olive. In his view, olive
was cultivated on marginal agricultural land, allowing the produc-
tion of surplus, population growth and socio-economic changes,
advances in technology, and the expansion of exchange. Although
this suggestion has been criticized (e.g. Hamilakis, 1996; Runnels
and Hansen, 1986), it demonstrates the far-reaching importance
ascribed to olive exploitation.
Olive domestication was most probably characterized by the
vegetative propagation of the most valuable trees, such as those
with high fruit set, bigger fruits, and higher oil content. Wild
olives reproduce via pollen and spread via seeds (Zohary and
Spiegel-Roy, 1975). The long history and the widespread distri-
bution of olive culture have resulted in a mixture of wild and
feral forms in many Mediterranean habitats (e.g. Barazani et al.,
2014). Gene flow regularly took place between the wild types
and the orchards, and vice versa, especially after the orchards
became larger than the natural wild populations (Figure 1; Bes-
nard et al., 2013; Zohary and Spiegel-Roy, 1975), resulting in
complex populations composed of various genetic mixtures of
domesticated, feral, and wild trees. This situation is further com-
plicated because oleaster plants were, and continue to be, used
extensively as stock material onto which cultivated clones are
grafted (Barazani et al., 2014, 2016; De Candolle, 1884; Zinger,
1985; Zohary and Spiegel-Roy, 1975). The spread of olive clones
by humans in antiquity, their seeds that germinated in various
habitats, as well as their pollen that pollinated both wild and
domesticated trees created additional confusion in the cultivar’s
identity. This might at least partly explain why different genetic
studies have reached different conclusions regarding the geo-
graphic origin of olive domestication, as well as the number of
domestication events. While several studies estimated that up to
nine separate domestication events may have taken place (Bes-
nard and Bervillé, 2000; Besnard et al., 2001; Breton et al.,
2009), a more recent study (Besnard et al., 2013) identified only
one dominant event, ascribed to the northern Levant. Diez et al.
(2015) favor, though not with certainty, two parallel domestica-
tion events – one in the Eastern Mediterranean and another in the
Central Mediterranean. The archaeobotanical evidence also
allows for varying interpretations: the first modern proposal con-
cerning the date and geographic origin of large-scale olive man-
agement, based on archaeobotanical remains and natural
distribution, was that of Zohary and Spiegel-Roy (1975), who
suggested that the olive tree was already cultivated (and conse-
quently domesticated) at Chalcolithic Ghassul in the southern
Levant, ca. 6000 years BP (yBP). Later archaeobotanical studies
(Liphschitz and Bonani, 2000; Liphschitz et al., 1991) also pro-
posed the southern Levant as the area of primary olive domesti-
cation, though they dated it more than a millennium later, to the
Early Bronze Age. Kaniewski et al. (2012) suggested that pri-
mary olive domestication was not limited to the southern Levant
(the Jordan Valley), but also took place in the northern regions. A
5th millennium BP autochthonous olive cultivation in north-
western Mediterranean areas was suggested by Terral and others,
based on changes in both olive stone morphology and wood
anatomy (Terral, 1996, 2000; Terral and Arnold-Simard, 1996;
Terral et al., 2004a).
The archaeobotanical data and the genetic evidence cannot be
easily reconciled, probably because of multi-factor secondary
domestication processes, with hybridization between local wild,
feral, and domesticated genotypes and introduced domesticated
olive trees, followed by repeated local selection events. While
DNA data can depict areas of potential genetic contributions to
the domesticated gene pool, it lacks information on the timing of
such events. We therefore turn to another proxy – the palynologi-
cal evidence. This study uses fossil pollen records to shed new
light on the history of olive cultivation around the Mediterranean.
One of the advantages of using the palynological method is its
capacity to track, both in space and time, the occurrence of a plant
species – the spread, regression, or extinction of olive populations
in the case of this study – and to compare the patterns between
different areas during the Holocene and throughout the Mediter-
ranean. Yet, one should bear in mind that fossil pollen cannot be
used to trace the beginning of olive domestication, which is a
Figure 1. Geographical distribution of wild olive (Olea europaea subsp. oleaster) and cultivated olive in the Mediterranean Basin (redrawn from
Carrión etal. (2010) and Lavee and Zohary (2011)). Numbers represent the sites used in the palynological diagrams (Figures 3–5): (1) Dead
Sea, (2) Sea of Galilee, (3) Lake Hula, (4) Al Jourd, (5) Eski Acigöl, (6) Gölhisar Gölü, (7) Lake Iznik, (8) Lake Voulkaria, (9) Lake Gramousti, (10)
Lago Preola, (11) Gorgo Basso, (12) Albano, (13) Nemi, (14) Accesa (center), (15) Accesa (edge), (16) Lago Padule, (17) San Rafael, (18) Baza,
(19) Villaverde, (20) Siles, (21) Laguna Negra, (22) Saldropo, and (23) Charco da Candieira. The pollen data primarily derive from collaborators
(Table 1) as well as the European Pollen Database (EPD, Leydet, 2007–2017).
904 The Holocene 29(5)
genetic process, but can only be used to expose its history of cul-
tivation. In the case of the olive tree, early manipulation (= proto-
cultivation) probably included collection of fruit from wild olive
trees and pruning of branches for fodder, which most likely led
over long periods of time to large-scale olive management. One
way to detect the intensive cultivation of olives, in addition to the
archaeological record, is to identify landscape transformation.
Such environmental change can be revealed by increased olive
pollen ratios (Margaritis, 2013; Mercuri et al., 2013). This study
aims to explore the introduction of olive cultivation across the
Mediterranean based on the following criteria: a rise in Olea pol-
len percentages not accompanied by an increase of other Mediter-
ranean sclerophyllous trees, and the correlation of such increases
with consistent archaeological and archaeobotanical evidence.
Given the cultural and economic significance of the olive tree,
tracing the origin of its large-scale management is a worthwhile
task. By studying its cultivation history, insights may be gained
into important issues such as its response to anthropogenic and
environmental pressure, enabling researchers to predict the
impact of future global changes and improve the design of breed-
ing programs. In this study, we have selected a reduced set of very
reliable fossil pollen records from the Mediterranean Basin in
order to detect when and where the wild olive was first brought
under cultivation in each region.
The history of Olea europaea in the Mediterranean
Basin during the Pleistocene
The earliest olive remains found in an archaeological context are
from the middle Pleistocene/Lower Paleolithic Acheulian site of
Gesher Benot Ya’aqov, in the Upper Jordan Valley (southern
Levant). At this site, 780,000-year-old deposits were excavated,
proffering well-preserved organic material in situ, including olive
seeds (Goren-Inbar et al., 2000; Melamed et al., 2016), olive
wood (Goren-Inbar et al., 2002), and olive pollen (Van Zeist and
Bottema, 2009). The olive continued to be part of the Levantine
wild flora in later stages of the Pleistocene, as evidenced by sev-
eral palynological sequences (Aharonovich et al., 2014; Cheddadi
and Khater, 2016; Cheddadi and Rossignol-Strick, 1995; Chen
and Litt, 2018; Horowitz, 1979; Langgut, 2008; Langgut et al.,
2011; Weinstein, 1976; Weinstein-Evron, 1983; Weinstein-Evron
et al., 2015). These studies demonstrate that olive pollen was usu-
ally present, though in low quantities, during the late Pleistocene
at Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 6–2, indicating that the olive was
always a minor component of the natural Levantine environment.
The palynological evidence is corroborated by the presence of
olive wood remains and olive stones in Middle-Upper and Epipa-
leolithic sites (e.g. Kislev et al., 1992; Liphschitz and Waisel,
1977; Weiss et al., 2008). These types of remains are considered
reflective of olive gathering from the wild by the inhabitants of
these sites (e.g. Asouti, 2003; Asouti and Austin, 2005; Carrión
Marco et al., 2013). Archaeobotanical evidence of olive is also
present during the Late Pleistocene, at MIS 3 and MIS 2, in more
westerly regions. Botanical remains have been recovered from
Middle, Upper, and Epipaleolithic sites located at the thermo-
Mediterranean bioclimatic level of the coastal areas of the Medi-
terranean Basin, below latitude 41°/39° N′ (Figure 1), as one
moves from west to east (see review by Carrión et al., 2010). The
palynological evidence from the Central and Western Mediterra-
nean Basin during the Last Glacial period points to short episodes
of Olea expansion, which would have left hardly any trace in the
wood-charcoal archaeological assemblages. The increase in olive
pollen might have been related to warmer and wetter intervals
during the last glaciation (e.g. during the early stage of MIS 3;
Langgut et al., 2018; Margari et al., 2009). Wild olive populations
would have been constrained to refugia in lowland areas and it
is probably for this reason that olive is not detected in Late
Pleniglacial pollen records from locations at higher altitudes
(Carrión et al., 2010). The palynological evidence emphasizes
that Olea persisted in thermophilous refugia during the Last Gla-
cial not only in the Levant but also in the central and Western
Mediterranean Basin (Carrión et al., 1999, 2003, 2008; Cortés-
Sánchez et al., 2008; Galanidou et al., 2000; Margari et al., 2009;
Pantaléon-Cano et al., 2003; Tzedakis et al., 2002), as well as
along the western coast of North Africa (e.g. Wengler and Vernet,
1992). The Last Glacial Maximum (ca. 22–18 ka cal. BP) proba-
bly reduced the distribution of olive within these refugia (Carrión
et al., 2010; Figueiral and Terral, 2002; Terral et al., 2004b; and
references therein). The survival of Olea in some Pleniglacial
refugia throughout the Mediterranean Basin would have favored
their early expansion in the Holocene, as will be emphasized in
this study.
Material and methods
Palynology
As wild and domesticated olive pollen grains are palynologically
indistinguishable (Figure 2a and b; Bottema and Sarpaki, 2003;
Langgut et al., 2014; Liphschitz et al., 1991; Mercuri et al., 2013;
Messora et al., 2016), they are hardly able to contribute to the
discussion regarding olive domestication. Therefore, in this study,
periods of sudden and profound increases in olive pollen percent-
ages within different pollen records along the Mediterranean
Basin have been used as an indicator of large-scale olive manage-
ment. This approach has already been proven useful for several
regional case studies (e.g. Langgut et al., 2016 for the Levant and
Mercuri et al., 2013 for the Italian Peninsula), especially when it
is crosschecked with archaeological and archaeobotanical data.
There is a good theoretical basis for interpreting the olive pollen
curves generated from palynological studies as markers for the
spread of cultivation because (1) Olea is a predominantly wind-
pollinated species which releases large amounts of pollen into the
atmosphere and is well-represented in pollen spectra (e.g. Bot-
tema and Sarpaki, 2003), although not far from the olive groves
(Florenzano et al., 2017; Mercuri, 2015); and (2) Olea displays a
strong response to cessation and resumption of orchard cultiva-
tion, resulting in dramatic fluctuations in pollen production fol-
lowing abandonment on one hand or rehabilitation of olive
orchards on the other hand (Langgut et al., 2014).
As Olea europaea is a typical Mediterranean evergreen tree,
whose growth is promoted by a typical Mediterranean climate
(Carrión et al., 2010; Mercuri et al., 2013; Moriondo et al., 2013;
Zohary and Spiegel-Roy, 1975), an increasing trend in its pollen
curves may reflect more favorable climatic conditions, rather than
olive cultivation. Therefore, we have taken into consideration the
characteristics of the accompanying flora when necessary. In
addition, we have evaluated the pollen results from this study in
conjunction with the relevant available archaeological, archaeo-
logical, archaeological and archaeobotanical information. Since
different regions within the Mediterranean Basin use different
terminologies for the prehistoric and historical periods, whenever
a local archaeological period is mentioned throughout this study,
it is accompanied by an age given in years BP. All 14C dates are
presented after calibration.
The fossil pollen dataset used in this study is composed of 23
palynological sequences (Figure 1 and Table 1). These records
formed part of a Mediterranean-wide analysis of vegetation
change based on cluster analyses and community classification
(see Roberts et al., 2019; Woodbridge et al., 2018 for further
details). The pollen data primarily derive from collaborators as
well as the European Pollen Database (EPD, Leydet, 2007–
2017), with new chronologies from Giesecke et al. (2014). All
pollen sequences have been standardized with count data aggre-
gated into contiguous 200 year time intervals for the Holocene
Langgut et al. 905
(Fyfe et al., 2019; Palmisano et al., 2019; Woodbridge et al.,
2018, 2019). In this study, only Olea pollen percentages were
used from the entire multispecies dataset. The full detailed paly-
nological results have been published elsewhere (see references
cited in Table 1). Olive pollen percentages were calculated as
ratios within the total pollen sum of both the arboreal and non-
arboreal pollen. Since different palynologists use different termi-
nologies for identifying Olea/Oleaceae pollen, we decided to use
only the records that include one of the following taxonomic
identifications: Olea, Olea europaea, Olea europaea-type, and
Olea-type. Records that contain other definitions (e.g. Oleaceae,
Oleaceae undifferentiated) were excluded. We based our deci-
sion on the well-known fact that Olea pollen is relatively easy to
distinguish from other members of the Oleaceae family. We drew
diagrams composed of Olea pollen percentages for three regions
within the Mediterranean: Eastern Mediterranean Levant (Figure
3), Central Mediterranean (Figure 4), and Western Mediterra-
nean (Figure 5). Only records that satisfied the following criteria
were selected: (1) a resolution of at least 40 samples covering the
entire Holocene (providing a time interval of approximately 250
years between two successive pollen samples for the last 10,000
yBP) and (2) at least one sample from within the entire palyno-
logical sequence bearing more than 2% Olea pollen. As not all
the regions considered provided sufficient and comparable data
fulfilling these criteria, some leeway was afforded when inter-
preting the data. Thus, palynological sequences that did not meet
the above criteria were occasionally consulted to clarify specific
points. Despite these limitations, the wide array of information
available from our new Olea pollen dataset allows a reconstruc-
tion of the history of olive cultivation in the Mediterranean
Basin.
Results
A total of 23 palynological records from the Mediterranean pollen
dataset were determined to be suitable to serve as tracers for olive
cultivation. Most of these continuous records cover the entire
Holocene and were sampled at relatively high resolution. Seven
records are available for the Eastern Mediterranean Levant region,
nine for the Central Mediterranean, and seven for the Western
Mediterranean (Table 1 and Figures 3–5).
Palynological results for the Eastern Mediterranean
Levant
This group (Table 1 and Figure 3) consists of seven records: three
collected from the southern Levant (Dead Sea, Sea of Galilee, and
Lake Hula; Figure S2), one from the northern Levant (Al Jourd),
and three from the western part of this region, in Anatolia (Eski
Acigol, Gölhisar Gölü, and Lake Iznik). Within the three south
Levantine palynological records, Olea pollen is present during the
early Holocene (~10,000–7000 yBP). Yet, its presence is incon-
sistent and is characterized by very low frequencies (it should be
noted that the Sea of Galilee record begins only at ~9000 yBP). A
dramatic change occurs in the following centuries, when a pro-
found increase in olive pollen is documented within the three
south Levantine sequences: in the Dead Sea and Hula records, the
rise in olive pollen occurs at ~6500 yBP, while at the Sea of Gali-
lee a somewhat earlier age is suggested – at ~7000 yBP (with
olive pollen values of 3.0%, 4.1%, and 6.6%, respectively). Olive
pollen percentages retain their high levels until about 4000 yBP
(with maximum values of 25.7% in the Dead Sea, 24.0% in the
Hula record, and 34.2% in the Sea of Galilee). After ~4000 yBP,
a slight decrease is documented; however, the percentages are not
as low as those characterizing the early Holocene. At the begin-
ning of the Classical periods, about ~2400 yBP, another profound
increase in Olea pollen percentages is documented (with maxi-
mum values reaching up to 11.5% at the Dead Sea, 16.0% in the
Hula record, and 43.8% at the Sea of Galilee). This olive peak
lasts until ~1000 yBP in the Sea of Galilee, while in the two other
records, it continues for several additional centuries.
Within the only record available from the northern Levant,
from Al Jourd marsh, Olea pollen first appears during the 5th mil-
lennium BP, albeit sporadically (0–1.1%). From 3400 yBP
onwards, olive pollen is continuously present. High frequencies
were recorded between 3000 and 1800 yBP (1.3–5.4%). During
the last millennium, a gradual increase can be seen, achieving its
maximum values in recent times (5.3%). Within the three west-
ernmost sequences of the Eastern Mediterranean Levant region,
Olea curves are intermittent and typified by relatively low fre-
quencies until the late Holocene. At the early stage of the Holo-
cene, somewhat higher values are centered around 7800 and 6000
yBP in all three profiles (e.g. in Lake Iznik Olea levels reached
Figure 2. Macro- and micro-botanical evidence of olive: (a) a fossil pollen grain of wild Olea extracted from a stratum dated to the end of the
Last Glacial period at the Epipaleolithic site of Jordan River Dureijat (southern Levant). (b) A fossil pollen grain of cultivated Olea recovered
from the royal garden in Herod the Great’s tomb complex at the semi-desert site of Herodium (southern Levant). Olea europaea pollen grains
are usually sub-transverse to spheroidal, have three short colpies, relatively thick exine and nexine, and reticulate ornamentation varying from
fine to coarse. (c) An olive endocarp collected from a well at Kfar Samir (southern Levant), dated to the late Pottery Neolithic (~7600–7000
yBP; Galili etal., 2018); so far, Kfar Samir provides the earliest direct evidence in the world for olive oil production (Galili etal., 1997). (d) and
(e) are SEM images showing two axes, transverse (d) and tangential (e), of olive wood charcoal collected from the Chalcolithic site of Tel Tsaf
(southern Levant, early 7th millennium BP), where evidence for early fruit tree cultivation has been found (olive, fig and grapes; Langgut and
Benzaquen, in press). The charcoal exhibits the typical features of the olive’s woody anatomy: in the transverse (d), note the diffuse porous,
round to angular vessels (generally between 30 and 60 μm in diameter) frequently arranged in radial multiples of up to six or in clusters; and in
the tangential (e), note the 1–3 seriate rays with uniseriate portions as large as multiseriate portions and vessel member lengths less than 350
μm. Pollen images are part of the collection of the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv University.
906 The Holocene 29(5)
Table 1. List of Mediterranean palynological records used in this study.
Region Site name Site code Location Site type Latitude Longitude Elevation
(m) a.s.l./
b.s.l.
Chronology Contributor Publication
Eastern
Mediterranean
Levant (Figure 3)
1 Dead Sea DEADSEA (66) Israel Lake 31.41 35.38 −415 20 14C dates T. Litt Litt etal. (2012)
2 Sea of Galilee SEAGALILEE2 (213) Israel Lake 32.82 35.58 −211 31 14C dates T. Litt Schiebel and Litt (2018)
3 Lake Hula HULA1 (101) Israel Lake 33.10 35.52 70 21 14C dates H. Woldring Van Zeist etal. (2009)
4 Al Jourd ALJOURD (17) Lebanon Marsh 34.35 36.2 2100 5 14C dates R. Cheddadi Cheddadi and Khater (2016)
5Eski Acigöl ESKI (76) Turkey Lake 38.55 34.54 1270 15 14C dates H. Woldring Woldring and Bottema (2003)
6 Gölhisar Gölü GOLHISAR1 (90) Turkey Lake 37.13 29.6 951 7 14C dates W. Eastwood Eastwood etal. (1999)
7 Lake Iznik IZNIK (106) Turkey Lake 40.43 29.53 88 25 14C dates
2 tephra layers
EPD Miebach etal. (2016)
Central Mediter-
ranean (Figure 4)
8Lake Voulkaria VOULKARI (244) Greece Lake 38.86 20.83 0 15 14C dates EPD Jahns (2005)
9 Lake Gramousti GRAMOU (93) Greece Lake 39.88 20.59 400 6 14C dates EPD Willis (1992)
10 Lago Preola LPBC (135) Italy Lake 37.61 12.63 6 16 14C dates EPD Calò etal. (2012)
11 Gorgo Basso GORGOBAS (92) Italy Lake 37.6 12.65 6 10 14C dates EPD Calò etal. (2012)
12 Albano ALBANO (14) Italy Lake 41.78 12.75 293 2 14C dates, 1 tephra layer A.M. Mercuri Mercuri etal. (2002)
13 Nemi NEMI (163) Italy Lake 41.71 12.9 318 1 tephra layer, stratigraphical
correlations
A.M. Mercuri Mercuri etal. (2002)
14 Accesa (center) ACCESA (6) Italy Lake (center) 42.59 10.53 157 11 14C dates D. Colombaroli Colombaroli etal. (2008);
Vannière etal. (2008)
15 Accesa (edge) AC4HOLO (4) Italy Lake (edge) 42.98 10.89 157 8 14C dates
8 tephra layers
EPD Drescher-Schneider etal.
(2007)
16 Lago Padule PADULE (177) Italy Lake 44.29 10.21 1187 7 14C dates EPD Watson (1996)
Western
Mediterranean
(Figure 5)
17 San Rafael SANRAFA (210) Spain Sea coast 36.77 −2.60 0 6 14C dates EPD Yll etal. (1995)
18 Baza BAZA (34) Spain Peat 37.23 −2.7 1900 8 14C dates J.S. Carrion Carrión etal. (2007)
19 Villaverde VILLAVERDE (242) Spain Lake 38.8 −2.22 870 8 14C dates J.S. Carrion Carrión etal. (2001)
20 Siles SILES (215) Spain Lake 38.44 −2.51 1320 12 14C dates J.S. Carrion Carrión (2002)
21 Laguna Negra LAGNEGRA (118) Spain Cirque lake 42.00 −2.84 1760 6 14C dates EPD Von Engelbrechten (1998)
22 Saldropo SALDROPO (207) Spain Peat bog 43.05 −2.71 625 3 14C dates EPD Penalba (1989)
23 Charco da Can-
dieira
CANDIEIR (50) Portugal Pond adjacent
peaty area
40.34 −7.57 1409 30 14C dates EPD Van der Knaap and Van Leeu-
wen (1995)
EPD: European Pollen Database.
Langgut et al. 907
4.0%). Peaks in olive pollen percentages are documented during
the last three millennia: at Eski Acigöl from ~2200 to 1600 yBP
(0.3–3.0%), at Gölhisar Gölü from ~3200 to 1600 yBP (0.1–5.0%),
and at Lake Iznik from ~2400 to 1400 yBP (15.5–25.4%). The
more recent periods within all three records are characterized by
an almost total absence of olive pollen.
Palynological results for the Central Mediterranean
This set of records includes nine profiles (Table 1 and Figure 4):
two from Greece (Lake Voulkaria and Lake Gramousti), another
two from Sicily (Lago Preola and Gorgo Basso), and five from
mainland Italy (Albano, Nemi, Accesa (center), Accesa (edge),
and Lago Padule). Within the two sequences recovered from
Greece, the first half of the Holocene is characterized by an
inconsistent appearance of Olea pollen; relatively high values
appear at the beginning of the Holocene, around 10,000–9000
yBP (achieving a maximum of 2.9% at Lake Voulkaria and 0.8%
at Lake Gramousti). Somewhat higher values are also docu-
mented between 7000 and 6000 yBP at Lake Voulkaria (reaching
2.6%). During the second half of the Holocene, olive pollen per-
centages are more constant at Lake Voulkaria, with increasing
percentages observed between ~2600 and 600 yBP (reaching
7.8%). In the Lake Gramousti record, two peaks in olive pollen
were registered during the later stage of the Holocene: at ~5100
yBP (1.7%) and at ~1600 yBP (1.4%). The two records from Sic-
ily, Lago Preola, and Gorgo Basso are characterized by an almost
total lack of Olea pollen at the beginning of the Holocene,
between 10,000 and 8500 yBP. The following millennia, until
~2000 yBP, are marked by higher olive pollen values and an
almost constant occurrence, especially in the case of the Gorgo
Basso profile (reaching maximum values of 26.1% at ~5900
yBP). The final two millennia in both records are characterized
by decreasing Olea percentages and an inconsistent appearance.
In the five sequences extracted from mainland Italy, olive pollen
values are significantly low in comparison with the other records
of the Central Mediterranean region. In addition, their appear-
ance is sporadic, especially during the first half of the Holocene.
During the second half of the Holocene, the presence of olive
pollen is somewhat more consistent, with the exception being
Figure 3. Olea pollen percentages during the Holocene in the Eastern Mediterranean Levant. Note the different percentage of vertical scales.
908 The Holocene 29(5)
Lake Padule (located in the Apennines). In Lake Albano, Olea
frequencies are constant from ~3400 yBP almost to the modern
era (reaching a peak of 3.7% at ~2100 yBP). At about the same
period, increasing percentages are also documented in the Lake
dell’Accesa (center) record with maximum values during ~700
yBP (2.5%). The latter sequence exhibits a more regional reflec-
tion of the vegetation in comparison to the other record extracted
from the same lake, but from along its edge.
Palynological results for the Western Mediterranean
The group of the westernmost pollen records was divided into two
geographical areas (Table 1 and Figure 5): four records were taken
from the southern Iberian Peninsula (San Rafael, Baza, Villaverde,
and Siles) and three from the northern Iberian Peninsula (Laguna
Negra, Saldropo, and Charco da Candieira). Within the former
region, the San Rafael sequence exhibits low Olea values during
the beginning of the Holocene (0.1–6.0%), followed by increasing
percentages during the ~8800–5000 yBP interval (1.6–10.6%).
During the 5th and 4th millennium BP, olive pollen was extremely
sporadic. In the following millennium, slightly higher values were
documented (3.4–7.1%), while during the last 2000 yBP olive pol-
len decreased profoundly, resembling the Olea pollen levels
recorded during the beginning of the Holocene (not exceeding
0.9%). The Baza record begins only at ~8500 yBP. It is character-
ized by a continuous olive pollen presence throughout the record,
with relatively low percentages (1.0–2.2%) until ~2000 yBP.
During the last two millennia, a limited increase was registered
(1.9–4.5%). The last two records from the southern Iberian Penin-
sula, Villaverde, and Siles show relatively high frequencies during
the early Holocene. Later on, within the Villaverde record, Olea
values are low with only sporadic appearances, while at the Siles
profile some olive pollen peaks are documented (at ~6500 yBP
with 3.2% and at ~5700 yBP with 2.8%). Only during the last two
millennia, a minor rise was identified in both records (reaching a
maximum of 2.7% and 2.9%, respectively). The sequences from
the northern Iberian Peninsula are characterized by extremely low
Olea levels and an intermittent occurrence. Only in the Laguna
Negra and Charco da Candieira profiles, an increase in olive pol-
len percentages was recorded during the last millennium (0.6–
2.7% and 0.3–3.6%, respectively).
A note on archaeological and archaeobotanical
evidence
To complement the pollen data, we examined published archaeo-
logical and archaeobotanical information relevant to olive culti-
vation and olive oil production. Oil production from olives
involves three basic steps: the crushing of fruits, the pressing of
the crushed pulp, and the separation of oil from water in the juicy
product of the pressed pulp (see, for example, Hamilakis, 1996).
Stone-cut olive presses and pressing installations comprise the
primary archaeological evidence for oil production; however,
these may be difficult to date, and their chronological attribution
Figure 4. Olea pollen percentages during the Holocene in the Central Mediterranean. Note the different percentage of vertical scales.
Langgut et al. 909
Figure 5. Olea pollen percentages during the Holocene in the Western Mediterranean. Note the different percentage of vertical scales.
is usually based either on stratigraphic context or spatial distribu-
tion in relation to dated sites (keeping in mind presses could
remain in use for centuries). The archaeobotanical evidence
includes (1) olive stones (endocarps; Figure 2c), (2) wood and
charcoal remains (Figure 2d and e), (3) olive waste from olive
pressing, and (4) chemical or molecular evidence for olive oil
residues. The macro-botanical remains were mostly preserved by
charring, though some were also water-logged, desiccated, and/or
mineralized. Biases typically encountered with these types of data
can stem from methodological issues, such as taphonomic param-
eters and an overreliance on areas that have been intensively
archaeologically explored versus areas with low exposure. In
addition, there is a lack of standardization in excavation tech-
niques and means of recovery of macro-botanical remains (rang-
ing from manual collection to dry sieving to flotation – not to
mention total neglect). Below we review the relevance of each
category for reconstructing olive cultivation.
1. Olive stones. The presence of olive endocarps in archaeo-
logical contexts is well known in prehistoric sites across
the Mediterranean even prior to olive cultivation, though
they appear in relatively low numbers. A profound increase
in olive stone frequencies may point to plant processing
(though, given the possibility of transportation of fruit
from a distance, it does not always follow that the trees
grew nearby; Carrión Marco et al., 2013; Langgut, 2017).
The two main features distinguishing the domesticated
olive from its wild forms are its larger fruit and its higher oil
content, both resulting from the development of the fleshy
oil-containing mesocarp (Liphschitz et al., 1991; Zohary
and Spiegel-Roy, 1975). Therefore, there have been several
attempts to use olive seed size as a proxy for distinguish-
ing between wild and domesticated subspecies (e.g. Digh-
ton et al., 2017; Kislev, 1995; Liphschitz and Bonani, 2000;
Liphschitz et al., 1991). However, scientists differ in their
approaches and conclusions, primarily because of the con-
siderable overlap between stone size-ranges in wild and
domesticated trees (Runnels and Hansen, 1986). The state of
preservation (charred/mineralized/water-logged) should also
be taken into consideration when measuring and comparing
stone size. Terral et al.’s (2004a) investigation is a step for-
ward, proposing specific morphological criteria in order to
distinguish between wild and domesticated endocarps. Its
weakness, however, lies in the need for a large assemblage
910 The Holocene 29(5)
of complete olive stones from any given site; unfortunately,
such large assemblages are rarely available from early peri-
ods (Margaritis, 2013). Another problem lies in the existence
of many different varieties of olives, all of which have endo-
carps that are morphologically variable both in shape and
size (e.g. Bosi et al., 2009). Kislev (1995) has suggested that
a high degree of morphological heterogeneity in an assem-
blage, reflecting richness of the genetic pool, should indicate
that it is wild. The occurrence of high ratios of crushed olive
stones, however, can be used as a positive indication for
local olive oil production (Galili et al., 1997; Neef, 1990).
Unfortunately, such cases are few and far between.
2. Olive wood and charcoal remains. These macroremains
may be considered a relatively reliable reflection of the
local growth of olive, based on the assumption that timber
and cuttings for everyday use were usually collected in
proximity to occupation sites. Charred olive wood is often
assumed to be remnant of fuel material (Chabal, 1988;
Théry-Parisot et al., 2010; Zohary et al., 2012: 117). This
assumption is especially true after domestication, since
pruning was and still is an important and standard practice
in olive orchards (Figure 6; Terral, 2000; Zinger, 1985).
Pruning is conducive to a significantly higher fruit yield
given that, in most cases, olives bear fruit only on 1-year-
old branches. Furthermore, pruning also helps to regulate
the phenomenon of alternate-year bearing, helps in treat-
ing infectious diseases, and keeps the trees at a moderate
height, conducive to harvesting (Zinger, 1985). As olive
wood has a high density (0.75–0.96 g/cm3; Crivellaro and
Schweingruber, 2013: 434; Engel and Frey, 1996: 191),
it is considered a high-quality fuel source. Olive timber
is also suitable for crafting and construction (Liphschitz
et al., 1991). A profound increase in the ratios of Olea
wood-charcoals within an archaeobotanical assemblage
may therefore point to the presence of local olive orchards
(e.g. Benzaquen et al., in press). In a comparison of the
three-dimensional structure of wild and domesticated
olive wood conducted by Liphschitz et al. (1991), no
indicative differences in the structure of the xylem were
observed that could be used to perform a differentiation
between wild and domesticated forms. In addition, olive
wood is characterized in the first place by considerable
structural variability due to irregular growth forms (Sch-
weingruber, 1990: 573). It should also be taken into con-
sideration that changes in olive growing conditions, such
as an increase/decrease in precipitation and rain-fed ver-
sus irrigated olive trees, can also influence the anatomical
structure (e.g. the width of annual growth rings when they
exist and vessel density; Terral and Durand, 2006).
3. Olive waste from olive pressing. The solid olive-mill by-
product (jift (Arabic) olive cakes or pomace) is composed
of olive pulp and olive-fruit epidermis mixed with intact
and crushed stones, water, and oil. The discovery of olive
waste in an archaeological context clearly points to large-
scale olive oil production in the environs of the site (e.g.
Neef, 1990). Since olive waste burns at a high and con-
stant temperature, it was considered an ideal fuel source in
antiquity (Rowan, 2015). In a traditional or ancient agri-
cultural community, waste from olive oil extraction may
have also been used to feed livestock (Galili et al., 1997).
Unless the crushed olive oil by-products are water-logged,
formed part of a destruction level, and/or were used as
fuel, they will be hardly preserved in archaeological con-
texts (Galili et al., 1997; Livarda and Kotzamani, 2013).
4. Organic residue of olive oil. The nature and origins of
organic remains that cannot be characterized using tradi-
tional techniques of archaeobotanical investigation, such
as vegetable oils, can be traced by molecular-chemical
techniques (residue analysis). Pottery vessels are a good
example of archaeological contexts from which residue
analyses can extract positive markers of olive oil (Koh
and Betancourt, 2010; Namdar et al., 2015; Tanasi et al.,
2018). Since olive oil could have been exported, the find-
ing of olive oil organic residue does not necessarily point
to olive horticulture in the immediate surroundings of
the site. Furthermore, oil can also be produced from wild
olives.
The organic residue is therefore only able to point to some
familiarity with olive oil, if not to the process of manufacturing
itself, in contrast to olive waste which can serve as direct evidence
for olive oil production. In the case of macro-botanical remains
(wood-charcoal and stones), the situation is more complicated, as
described above, especially when trying to distinguish between
specimens from the wild and domesticated subspecies. Due to the
limitations of these macro-botanical remains for tracing olive cul-
tivation in the early phases of olive domestication, when olive
stone sizes had most likely not yet been significantly altered (e.g.
Dighton et al., 2017), it seems that the quantitative approach may
be considered a relatively reliable indicator for olive cultivation.
Still, as in the case of pollen, increasing ratios of olive macro-
botanical remains could reflect more favorable climate conditions
rather than cultivation. Therefore, this type of evidence should be
evaluated not only in relation to its archaeological context (mainly
its association with certain implements suggesting specific olive
oil processing), but also in relation to the reconstructed environ-
mental conditions.
Discussion
The presence of olive pollen during the early Holocene
(~10,000–7000 yBP-albeit frequently) in relatively low propor-
tions, in almost all of the studied palynological records (22 out of
23; Table 1 and Figures 3–5), clearly demonstrates that the inves-
tigated regions were part of the natural distribution area of Olea
europaea pollen rain during the Pleistocene and served as areas of
refugia during the Last Glacial Maximum period. This includes
the following regions: the southern Levant, Anatolia, Greece, Sic-
ily, Italy (peninsula and islands), and the Iberian Peninsula. The
Figure 6. An olive orchard in the Judean Mountains (southern
Levant). Note the piles of recently pruned olive branches, indicated
by the white arrow. Pruning was and still is an important and
standard practice in olive orchards (Terral, 2000; Zinger, 1985). It
leads to a considerably higher fruit yield (olive bears fruits mostly
on 1-year-old branches), assists in regulating the alternate-year
bearing phenomenon, helps in treating infectious diseases, and keeps
the trees at a moderate height thereby contributing to an overall
easier harvest (Zinger, 1985).
Langgut et al. 911
records were recovered from Mediterranean coastal areas or from
hinterland locations that would most likely be characterized by
climates favorable to the wild subspecies. It is possible that other
areas, also located in thermo-Mediterranean contexts, would have
served as refugia (e.g. the northern Levant, Cyprus, Mediterra-
nean France, and the western coasts of North Africa), though,
unfortunately, sufficient and comparable palynological records
that meet the criteria of this study are not available from all poten-
tial regions. In any case, corroborative evidence is provided by
the genetic data, which also point to almost the same locations as
refugia areas of oleaster (Besnard et al., 2017). The occurrence of
Olea pollen across the Mediterranean already during the Plenigla-
cial indicates that these areas served as long-term refugia; the
increase in olive pollen levels during the beginning of the Holo-
cene, in comparison to late Pleistocene values, is related to the
climate conditions characterized by the general increase of tem-
peratures and precipitation during the post-glacial period (Carrión
et al., 2010 and references therein). At some point during the
Holocene, the rise in Olea pollen can be attributed in most cases
to the human factor, specifically the early manipulation of oleas-
ter and its cultivation. These activities played a crucial role in the
expansion of Olea across the Mediterranean.
Olive cultivation history in the Eastern
Mediterranean Levant
The southern Levant. The three records available for the southern
Levant demonstrate a sudden and profound increase in Olea pol-
len percentages around the mid-7th millennium BP (Figures 3 and
S2). In the Dead Sea (–415 m below sea level (b.s.l.)) and Hula
(70 m above sea level – a.s.l.) records, the estimated date for this
dramatic rise in pollen is ~6500 yBP (Litt et al., 2012; Van Zeist
et al., 2009, respectively), while at the Sea of Galilee (–211 b.s.l.)
the estimated age is ~7000 yBP (Schiebel and Litt, 2018). In two
different records recovered from Birkat Ram (Golan plateau,
southern Levant), the estimated date for the marked rise in olive
pollen percentages was also dated to ~6500 yBP (Neumann et al.,
2007; Schiebel, 2013). In all these southern Levantine pollen dia-
grams, the sudden and dramatic increase in olive percentages (e.g.
in the Sea of Galilee, from 3.5% at ~7300 yBP to 17.1% at ~6900
yBP) was not accompanied by increased abundance of other
broadleaved trees, such as oaks and pistachios, and therefore can-
not be regarded as climate related. We assume, therefore, that this
rise reflects the intensification of olive cultivation (see also Sup-
plemental Material, available online), as was first proposed by
Baruch and Bottema (1999). The discovery of early residual evi-
dence for olive oil in a pottery vessel (amphoriskos) from ‘En
Zippori’ (Lower Galilee, southern Levant), dated to the Late
Neolithic-Chalcolithic interface (the Wadi Rabah horizon, 8th
millennium BP; Namdar et al., 2015), supports the possibility that
the dramatic rise in olive pollen represents an early stage of olive
cultivation. The chemical residue in the amphoriskos contains
high proportions of oleic acid (C18:1 >70%) in relation to stearic
and palmitic acids, accompanied by linoleic acid (C18:2) and the
complete absence of linolenic (C18:3) acid (Namdar et al., 2015:
Figure 4c). This chemical signature is strongly associated with the
presence of olive oil (Boskou, 2002; Evershed et al., 1997; Nam-
dar et al., 2015).
In recent decades, several large, well-preserved, and well-
dated archaeobotanical assemblages from Pottery Neolithic vil-
lages submerged along the Mediterranean (Carmel) coast of
Israel have resulted in a new understanding regarding the earli-
est date of large-scale olive oil production (Galili et al., 1989,
1997). Beginning at ~7600 yBP, significant quantities of olives
were recorded in the four Pottery-Neolithic sites of Kfar Samir,
Kfar Galim, Tell Hreis, and Megadim (Carmi and Segal, 1995;
Galili et al., 1989, 1997; Galili and Sharvit, 1995; Kislev, 1995).
The finds from the submerged villages differ from many typical
archaeobotanical olive finds, in that they are numerous, non-
charred, and well preserved. They were also found in clear
archaeological contexts and were directly 14C dated. The data
provide valuable information on subsistence prior to, as well as
following, the introduction of olive oil extraction (Galili et al.,
2018). In Kfar Samir (~7600–7000 yBP), several stages of the
olive oil production (chaîne opératoire) were identified, includ-
ing crushing basins made of stone, a pit filled with the waste
(pomace) produced by olive oil extraction, and strainers made of
twigs. The pomace can potentially also represent a further step
of emptying the strainer after pressing (strainers are still used in
current traditional methods of olive oil production). This is con-
sidered the earliest known evidence for olive oil extraction
(Galili et al., 1997, 2018). These finds may be contrasted with
those from the adjacent but older submerged site of Atlit-Yam
(Pre-Pottery Neolithic C; 9000–8500 yBP) where olive remains
(both pollen and endocarps) are present in very low quantities
(Kislev, 1996), most likely derived from wild olives.
The submerged findings from Kfar Samir are dated to the
same period – the Late Neolithic–Chalcolithic interface (the Wadi
Rabah horizon) – as the olive oil residue in the pottery vessel from
‘En Zippori’ mentioned above (Namdar et al., 2015). However, it
is possible that these finds represent a very early stage of olive
tree manipulation when olive fruits for olive oil production were
still collected from wild trees. DNA analysis of the olive stones
from Kfar Samir provided short sequences but no conclusive evi-
dence regarding domestication (Elbaum et al., 2006). Document-
ing the exact moment of domestication is complicated as it is a
process that does not happen instantly; rather, it involves a long
period of transformation, and the situation is even more confusing
in areas where wild olive populations are part of the natural envi-
ronment, as is the case in the southern Levant coast. Domesti-
cated, cultivated, feral, and wild plants may well have been
mingled in evolving management strategies, giving the archaeo-
botanical record a mixed character (e.g. Margaritis, 2013; Zohary
et al., 2012). This study shows that the sudden and profound
increase in the southern Levant pollen records may indicate large-
scale olive management. Early management (proto-cultivation) of
wild olive trees probably included collection of branches and
intentional pruning for the exploitation of various products: fruit,
fodder, timber, and probably fuel.
Olive wood remains occur in four Chalcolithic sites located in
the Lower and central Jordan Valley, where wild olives are not
found today and to the best of our knowledge were also not pres-
ent in the 7th millennium BP (Teleilat Ghassul – Meadows, 2001;
Abu Hamid and Tell esh Shuna – Neef, 1990; and the somewhat
earlier site of Tel Tsaf – Langgut and Benzaquen, in press). In
addition, a very important and even critical finding of large
amounts of waste from olive pressing demonstrates the wide-
spread phenomenon of olive oil production in the Chalcolithic
sites (Neef, 1990), for example, at Pella (central Jordan Valley;
Dighton et al., 2017). The finding of olive waste clearly indicates
large-scale olive oil production, while the finding of wood in
those sites located outside the natural habitats of wild olives is
again strong evidence for horticulture and should be attributed to
local Chalcolithic olive orchards. Chalcolithic oil production is
further supported by the numerous olive stones and wood remains,
as well as crushing basins, found at Chalcolithic sites in the Golan
Heights (Epstein, 1978, 1993) and in Samaria (Eitam, 1993). All
of these findings strongly indicate a well-established olive horti-
culture no later than ~6000 yBP.
The data presented above can be summarized as follows: the
sudden profound rise in the southern Levant of olive pollen curves
(Figure 3; for example, in the Sea of Galilee, olive percentages
around 6700 yBP are eight times higher than those observed dur-
ing the early Holocene) suggests that in the mid-7th millennium
912 The Holocene 29(5)
BP, at the beginning of the Chalcolithic period, a broad enterprise
of olive management and exploitation took place. This estimated
date accords well with the seminal study conducted more than
four decades ago by Zohary and Spiegel-Roy (1975), based
mainly on the archaeobotanical evidence (charred seeds and
wood) available at the time, which indicated that the olive horti-
culture was already present in the type-site of Tuleilat el-Ghassul
no later than 6000 yBP. The botanical remains gathered through-
out the region since then corroborate the idea that the initial steps
toward large-scale olive management had already been taken by
~6500 yBP and argue against the attribution of olive cultivation to
the Early Bronze Age, one millennium later (Liphschitz et al.,
1991). This means that the early management of olive trees cor-
responds to the establishment of the Mediterranean village econ-
omy and the completion of the ‘secondary products revolution’,
rather than to urbanization or state formation. It was primarily a
rural staple economic strategy that was only secondarily (and
much later) co-opted by Early Bronze Age elites as an instrument
of political-economic leverage. Similar conclusions have been
recently proposed for the expansion of olive in Eastern Crete
(Cañellas-Boltà et al., 2018). The palynological, archaeological,
and archaeobotanical data from the southern Levant indicate that
during the Early Bronze Age, olive orchards were already abun-
dant in the Levant and that olives were an important supplement
to grain cropping throughout the Levantine region (Benzaquen
et al., in press; Kaniewski et al., 2012; Langgut et al., 2016; Riehl,
2009; Weiss, 2015; Zohary et al., 2012), with olive oil becoming
a commodity in international trade (e.g. Langgut et al., 2016; Lev-
Yadun and Gophna, 1992).
The northern Levant. In the record from the Al Jourd marsh,
Olea pollen does not occur during the first half of the Holocene.
Its first appearance is dated to ~4600 yBP (Figure 3; Cheddadi
and Khater, 2016). This late occurrence may probably be related
to the high elevation of the site (2100 m a.s.l.). Early fruit tree
cultivation in the Mediterranean certainly took place at lower
elevations and then spread toward higher elevations. The knowl-
edge, and possibly even the plant material itself, could have dif-
fused from the southern regions. In a recent pollen record from
the Syrian coast (not covering the entire Holocene and therefore
not included in the current dataset), a prominent increase in
Olea pollen abundance occurred at ~4800 yBP (Sorrel and
Mathis, 2016: Figure 5a). Other palynological investigations in
the northern Levant show an increase in Olea values during the
Holocene – in the Tell Nebi Mend plain and in the Ghab area
(Niklewski and Van Zeist, 1970; Yasuda et al., 2000) – but were
unable to establish a robust age model (e.g. Cappers et al., 1998;
Meadows, 2005). Based on the relatively well-dated palynologi-
cal records, it therefore appears that the spread of olive culture
in the northern Levant lagged behind the southern Levant (Lang-
gut et al., 2016: Figure 4). This proposal is further supported by
Riehl’s synthesis of archaeobotanical data from 138 Levantine
sites (over a 5500–2600 yBP time frame), which clearly shows
that Early Bronze Age olive cultivation was focused in the
southern Levant (Riehl, 2009: Figure 7). However, this study
does not distinguish between the sub-phases of the Early Bronze
Age and may be skewed by the relative scarcity of Early Bronze
Age excavation sites in the northern Levant. Well-dated archaeo-
botanical evidence from Tell Fadous in northern Lebanon indi-
cates significant olive exploitation in the Early Bronze Age
II-III (Genz et al., 2009: Figure 38; Höflmayer et al., 2014).
Similar evidence was derived from the archaeobotanical assem-
blages of Tell Mastuma in northern Syria (Yasuda, 1997: 258,
Figure 8). Therefore, based on the palynological and archaeobo-
tanical evidence, it seems that the initial management of olive
tree crops in the northern Levant lagged somewhat behind the
southern Levant.
In contrast to the palynological, archaeological, and archaeo-
botanical data, the genetic evidence seems to suggest the northern
Levant as the locus of olive domestication (Besnard et al., 2013).
These conflicting results may derive from sampling issues within
the Besnard et al. (2013) study, as the samples from the southern
Levant were collected from only one location (Mount Carmel;
Besnard et al., 2013: supplementary information Table S1, avail-
able online). Owing to the highly fragmented and human-dis-
turbed Mediterranean habitat in this area, it could not be ruled out
that some of the sampled trees/populations were feral. In any
event, it seems that further genetic analyses of materials from the
southern Levant are required in order to resolve this apparent
regional discrepancy.
Anatolia. During the first half of the Holocene, the three records
available from Turkey are characterized by intermittent occur-
rence and very low Olea frequencies (Figure 3). The records were
recovered from hinterland locations, most probably portraying
favorable thermo-Mediterranean micro-climates, suitable for ole-
aster survival as refugia.
Within the Gölhisar Gölü sequence (951 m a.s.l.), an increase
in Olea is visible at ~3200 yBP, while at the two other locations,
Eski Acigöl (1270 m a.s.l.) and Lake Iznik (88 m a.s.l.), the prom-
inent increase in olive pollen was documented about a millen-
nium later. For example, in the latter sequence, Olea pollen
rises from 3% at ~2300 yBP to 15% at ~2100 yBP and up to
26% at 1900 yBP (Figure 3). This sudden expansion was under-
stood to mark the beginning of olive horticulture in this area
(Eastwood et al., 1999; Miebach et al., 2016). An increase in Olea
percentages at ~4600–4500 yBP in Lake Iznik record was sug-
gested by Miebach et al. (2016) to reflect a short-lived small-scale
episode of olive cultivation. The olive stone findings from the
Early Bronze Age strata of Troy (dated to ca. the middle of the 5th
millennium BP) corroborate this early short-lived pollen peak,
while also serving as the earliest olive stone remains in the Troad;
in the subsequent period, during the Middle Bronze Age, olive
was not cultivated in this region (Riehl, 1999). In south-western
Turkey, Eastwood et al. (1999) correlate large-scale olive cultiva-
tion with the Beyşehir Occupation (BO) phase which began at
~3200 yBP. Recent synthesis of fossil pollen records from the
entire Anatolian region corroborates this date (Woodbridge et al.,
2019). This phase included the cultivation of other fruit trees such
as Juglans, Castanea, and Vitis (Eastwood et al., 1999; Wood-
bridge et al., 2019). While the palynological evidence suggests
that Juglans horticulture in the eastern Mediterranean spread on a
north-south axis (most probably from Anatolia to the Levant) and
reached the southeasternmost parts of the region (southern
Levant) during the first half of the 4th millennium BP (Langgut,
2015), it seems that olive culture spread in the opposite direction.
Most of the archaeological findings regarding olive oil production
in Anatolia derive from later periods and therefore do not shed
additional light on questions regarding early olive horticulture.
Olive cultivation history in the Central Mediterranean
Greece. The two records available from Greece indicate that the
beginning of the Holocene (~10,000–9000 yBP) is characterized
by a scattered olive pollen presence, while during the subsequent
two millennia, it is almost absent. Higher values are documented
in the Lake Voulkaria (located at sea level) record between ~7000
and 6000 yBP and after ~5200 yBP. At exactly the same time, a
peak in olive pollen percentages is documented at Lake Gramousti
(400 m a.s.l.). During the second half of the Holocene, the spread
of Olea can be observed from the Geometric to the Classical peri-
ods (beginning in the early 3rd millennium BP). These high olive
pollen frequencies point to olive horticulture, mainly along the
coastal lands. Higher olive percentages during these historical
Langgut et al. 913
periods were also identified in other records from southern Greece
(e.g. Vravron area – Kouli, 2012).
In pollen records from southern mainland Greece and from
locations in the Aegean and Ionian Seas that were not included
in this study, due to relatively low resolution and/or the limited
time span they cover, the increase in Olea percentages, indicat-
ing the beginning of olive cultivation, is more profound and is
dated earlier (Figure 7). The earliest clear evidence of substan-
tial olive pollen rise occurs at ~6000 yBP in the pollen diagrams
from Crete (Bottema and Sarpaki, 2003; Moody et al., 1996). A
more accurate date is available from the new, high-resolution
pollen study by Cañellas-Boltà et al. (2018), who suggest an age
of ~5600 yBP for the beginning of olive tree management in
Crete, when Olea pollen rises from ~17% at ~5700 yBP to ~30%
at 5500 yBP. A virtually coeval olive pollen increase has been
identified on Zakynthos Island in the Ionian Sea (Avramidis
et al., 2013). In the northeast Peloponnese, a significant increase
in Olea pollen was registered at a much later date: in the region
of Lake Lerna at ~4200 yBP (Argive Plain; Jahns, 1993) and in
the region of Kleonai and the Kotihi lagoon at ~3800 yBP
(Atherden et al., 1993; Lazarova et al., 2012, respectively). In
Macedonia, in the vicinity of Lake Dojran, Olea horticulture is
suggested to have begun only at ~2500 yBP (Masi et al., 2018).
The differences between the palynological records regarding the
date of the beginning of olive horticulture may reflect the pos-
sibility that the initial management of olive tree crops varied
from one area to another, with a clear diffusion from south to
north.
The late pollen evidence for olive culture in the two records
discussed in this study (Lake Voulkaria and Lake Gramousti) is
probably the result of their relatively northern location (Figure 1).
However, it can be summarized, based on the other available
regional pollen sequences presented above, that the earliest pro-
found increase in olive pollen, indicative of olive cultivation in
Greece, took place during the ~6000–5600 yBP interval (Figure 7;
Crete – Bottema and Sarpaki, 2003; Cañellas-Boltà et al., 2018;
Moody et al., 1996; and Zakynthos Island – Avramidis et al.,
2013). In these pollen diagrams, the sudden dramatic rise in olive
pollen curves was not accompanied by increasing pollen percent-
ages of other evergreen Mediterranean sclerophyllous trees. This
may suggest that Olea pollen intensification was not climate
related. Furthermore, not only did the ratios of other trees of the
Mediterranean forest/maquis with similar environmental require-
ments not increase, but oak percentages (mostly those of the ever-
green type) were reduced (Avramidis et al., 2013: Figure 4;
Bottema and Sarpaki, 2003: Figure 4; Moody et al., 1996: Figure 8),
pointing to the possible replacement of parts of the Mediterranean
forest/maquis by olive orchards through human agency, as has
been suggested, for example, for the Sea of Galilee region in the
southern Levant (Baruch, 1986; Horowitz, 1979: 193). Indeed,
the Sea of Galilee olive pollen curve used in this study (Figure 3a)
and the evergreen oak pollen type curve (Schiebel and Litt, 2018:
Figure 6) present opposite trends since the beginning of olive cul-
tivation in the region. The range of ages pointing to the beginning
of large-scale olive management in Crete (~6000 yBP vs ~5600
yBP) could stem from differences in dating methods, but it may
also indicate an earlier starting date for olive cultivation in West-
ern Crete. The record reported by Moody et al. (1996) is located
in western Crete while the palynological sequence of Cañellas-
Boltà et al. (2018) is situated at the eastern end of the island (see
also Supplemental Material, Figure S4, available online). The
archaeobotanical data from southern Greece matches the palyno-
logical evidence: olive remains become common in the initial
stage of the Bronze Age (from ~5300 yBP) and increase during
the course of the Bronze Age (Asouti, 2003; Margaritis, 2013;
Valamoti et al., 2018 and references therein).
Islands have always been regarded as sensitive indicators
for environmental change and human pressure, due to their iso-
lation and relatively low resilience. In the Balearic Islands, an
abrupt increase in Olea pollen was observed almost at the same
time as for the Aegean and Ionian Islands (see review by Bur-
jachs et al., 2017). However, in the case of the Western Medi-
terranean islands, olive pollen escalation was synchronized
with a rise in Quercus (most probably evergreen pollen type)
and Erica pollen, and a marked decrease in Juniperus, Buxus,
and Ephedra pollen (Burjachs et al., 2017: Figures 2–5). These
changes point to an expansion of wild rather than of domesti-
cated olive trees.
In correlation with the early Holocene pollen spectra (Fig-
ure 3), olive stones and wood-charcoal remains also point
toward a rare presence of olive trees during the Late and Final
Neolithic (9th–7th millennia BP) in some islands in the Aegean
and Ionian seas, either growing naturally in small numbers
(Valamoti et al., 2018), and/or exploited at a low level (Mar-
garitis, 2013). The archaeological sites from northern and cen-
tral mainland Greece are characterized by the almost total
absence of olive macro-botanical remains during the Neolithic
(see review by Valamoti et al., 2018), as well as pollen (e.g.
Kouli and Dermitzakis, 2008). The number of sites where olive
remains have been recovered rises dramatically in both Crete
and the Peloponnese from the Bronze Age onwards. Based on
the robust archaeobotanical evidence (Margaritis, 2013;
Figure 7. Palynological records from the islands of Crete and Zakynthos demonstrating a significant increase in olive pollen at ~6000 yBP. We
believe that this rise is indicative of olive horticulture in southern Greece. The sudden dramatic increase was not accompanied by pollen rise of
other broadleaved trees and therefore cannot be regarded as climate related. The radiocarbon dates provided with the Tersana and Delphinos
records were recalibrated using OxCal v.4.3.2 (Bronk Ramsey, 2017). Olea pollen curves were drawn based on Moody etal. (1996) – the
Tersana record, Bottema and Sarpaki (2003) – the Delphinos record and Avramidis etal. (2013) – the Alykes Lagoon record. The solid black line
is a fivefold exaggeration curve used to show low Olea percentages.
914 The Holocene 29(5)
Valamoti et al., 2018), and as suggested by Renfrew (1972), the
Aegean stands out as the core area from which olive horticul-
ture gradually spread at the onset of the Bronze Age, diffusing
from islands and coastal locations to the central mainland and
to more northerly regions.
The earliest evidence from residue analysis for the use of olive
oil in Greece comes from two local jar fragments found in the
small fortified hilltop site of Aphrodite’s Kephali in eastern Crete,
dated to ~5200–4700 yBP (Koh and Betancourt, 2010: Table 1).
Martlew (1999) reports that olive oil residues are present at the
Late Neolithic site of Gerani Cave in western Crete (dated to
~5800 yBP); however, the results of this study are not conclusive
and could point to other vegetal sources (see also critique by Sar-
paki, 2012: 41–42).
The relatively late onset of intensive olive cultivation in the
Aegean (at least several centuries after the southern Levant)
allows for the possibility that it was initiated as a result of knowl-
edge transfer – or even seedling transfer – from the Levant. How-
ever, there is no firm archaeological evidence that can point to
contiguous links between the two regions. While it is broadly rec-
ognized that maritime capabilities grew markedly in the 6th mil-
lennium BP, commerce appears to have been limited to the
Aegean basin and the west Anatolian coast, on one hand, and to
the Levantine littoral (including occasional contacts with Cyprus),
on the other hand (Bar-Yosef Mayer et al., 2015; Broodbank,
2013 and references therein), with no archaeological or archaeo-
botanical evidence for stepping-stones that may have filled the
gap. It is therefore possible that the knowledge of olive cultiva-
tion spread through maritime connections, but no less likely that
olive cultivation in Greece was an independent event. The latter
possibility is supported by genetic studies (Diez et al., 2015),
which appear to point to two separate domestication events, one
in the eastern and the second in the Central Mediterranean.
The archaeological record related to olive oil processing dif-
fers between the two regions: while in the southern Levant the
entire chaîne opératoire for the initial stage of olive horticulture
can be reconstructed, in southern Greece the archaeological evi-
dence regarding this initial stage is more obscure. For example,
the earliest evidence of clay-spouted tubs, presumably used for
separating oil and water following pressing, was found at Early
Minoan Myrtos (Crete), at ~4200 yBP (Riley, 2002). Burnt olive
waste was found also in Crete (Chamalevri-Tzambakas House),
dated to ~4100–3900 yBP (Sarpaki, 1999, 2012). Stone presses
were found only in the later stages of the Bronze Age. The dis-
crepancy between the two regions regarding the visibility of the
archaeological record and archaeobotanical finds are most prob-
ably the result of two factors: (1) different states of preservation
and (2) the use of different techniques for olive oil extraction; for
example, the possibility that at the early stage of olive oil produc-
tion in the Aegean, wooden rollers were used to crush olives on
stone beds. In such a technique, not only does the perishable
wood rarely survive in the archaeological record, but the deflesh-
ing of the olives would occur without crushing the olive stones
(Hamilakis, 1996). The olive fruits could have been crushed on
multipurpose stone beds (e.g. surfaces used in the processing of
other plant materials). Multifunctional mortars and pestles could
have also been used to crush the olive fruit. Differences in pro-
duction techniques between the Aegean and other Mediterranean
regions were also observed in the case of wine production (Fran-
kel and Ayalon, 1988: 31).
Despite the limitations presented above, the presence of olive
oil residues nearly contemporaneous with the palynological evi-
dence for large-scale olive management (Figure 7) points to the
local production of olive oil early in the 6th millennium BP. It
seems that olive horticulture spread from islands, such as Crete
and Zakynthos, as well as from coastal locations where olive
grows naturally, to mainland Greece.
Sicily. The early Holocene is characterized by a limited appear-
ance of olive pollen in the two records available for Sicily (Lago
Preola and Gorgo Basso, both located at few m a.s.l.). Beginning
with the 8th millennium BP, an increase in Olea percentages was
registered in both records. This rise was accompanied by the
intensification of other broadleaved trees such as Quercus ilex
and is considered reflective of the dominance of the evergreen
forest in the coastal areas of Sicily as a result of an increase in
available moisture (Calò et al., 2012; Tinner et al., 2009). A con-
temporaneous increase in Olea pollen has been documented in
other parts of Sicily (e.g. in the Biviere di Gela record, from
southern Sicily; Noti et al., 2009). In central Sicily, Lago di Per-
gusa is outside the natural distribution area of the wild olive tree,
but its pollen curve shows a continuous presence along the last
6700 years, most probably reflecting long-distance transport. The
sudden Olea pollen rise from ~3200 to 3000 yBP (from ~5% to
17%, respectively), a period in which the area was settled by Sica-
nians and Sicels, most probably indicates human activity in the
area (Sadori et al., 2013, 2016).
Based on the two records presented in this study, the ever-
green forests persisted in northern Sicily until 2200 yBP,
when human presence intensified (Calò et al., 2012). Since
Olea is a dominant component of the local natural forest, and
since its pollen values increase significantly during humid
phases, it is difficult to use this marker as an indicator for the
beginning of olive cultivation in this region. For the same rea-
son, the macro-botanical evidence also does not supply a clear
answer regarding the date of cultivation of domesticated olive
in Sicily. More direct evidence comes from residues in three
Early Bronze pottery vessels found at Castelluccio (southern
Sicily): chemical signatures of olive oil were identified, dated
to the 5th and the beginning of the 4th millennium BP (Tanasi
et al., 2018).
Mainland Italy. In the five Olea pollen records from mainland
Italy, the frequency of this taxon is low during the first half of the
Holocene (Figure 4). Its occurrence interestingly indicates that
small stands, or at least some specimens of olive trees, existed in
different regions of the Italian peninsula (Mercuri et al., 2013).
The Olea pollen first shows an uninterrupted curve within the
Albano and Nemi (293 and 318 m a.s.l., respectively) records
starting around 3400 yBP. At the same time, increasing olive per-
centages are documented in the profile extracted from the inner
part of Lake Accesa, which exhibits somewhat higher Olea values
than the palynological record recovered from the margins of this
lake (Figure 4). The differences are likely owed to the wider geo-
graphical catchment of the former record. At Lake Padule, maxi-
mum olive percentages were also recorded at ~3400 yBP. Olea
pollen recovered from archaeological sites across the Italian pen-
insula confirms the wide extent of olive cultivation over the last
four millennia, with a greater representation observed in southern
sites, due to more favorable habitats in that part of mainland Italy
(Mercuri et al., 2013). In the regional pollen diagrams, the Olea
pollen increase was simultaneous with the rise of walnut and
chestnut pollen and follows the spread of cultural landscapes
(Mercuri et al., 2013). Evidence for a short-lived episode of olive
cultivation during the Early Bronze Age (early 4th millennium
BP) has been inferred from charcoal accumulation in two archae-
ological sites of the Tyrrhenian coast of Calabria, in southern Italy
(D’Auria et al., 2017). The presence of olive waste from Tufari-
ello (Buccino) dated ~3800–3400 yBP (the Middle Bronze Age)
supplies direct evidence for olive oil production (Rowan, 2015).
The earliest chemical signatures of olive oil are those of Broglio
di Trebisacce (Cosenza) and Roca Vecchia (Lecce), where large
storage jars (dolia) dated to the Late Bronze Age (~3200–3000
yBP) tested positive for oil presence (Tanasi et al., 2018 and refer-
ences therein).
Langgut et al. 915
Olive cultivation history in the western
Mediterranean
Southern Iberian Peninsula. Based on the four palynological
records used for the southern Iberian Peninsula, Olea curves
exhibit an almost continuous presence throughout the entire
Holocene (note that the Baza sequence begins only at ~8400
yBP). The San Rafael record (located at sea level), which is the
only sequence in this region that has been recovered from the dis-
tribution area of the wild olive (Figure 1), shows increasing Olea
percentages starting in the early 8th millennium BP and lasting
until the late 5th millennium BP. The rise in olive pollen levels
was accompanied by increasing percentages of other broadleaved
trees common to the thermo-Mediterranean zone and is therefore
indicative of more available moisture (Yll et al., 2003). The
paleoenvironmental information obtainable from the Siles record
supports this vegetation-climate reconstruction. According to
Carrión (2002), an early/mid-Holocene wet phase (~7500–5200
yBP) emerges regionally during the period exhibiting maximum
forest development and the highest lake levels. The Siles profile
is characterized by maximum Holocene Olea pollen percentages
between 6800 and 6400 yBP and at ~5600 yBP.
The Baza, Villaverde, and Siles records (1900, 870, and
1320 m a.s.l., respectively) show increasing Olea pollen fre-
quencies during the last two millennia (Figure 5; Carrión, 2002;
Carrión et al., 2001, 2007). In all three palynological diagrams,
the increase in olive was simultaneous with a sudden change in
the appearance of other pollen indicators of human influence on
the natural vegetation (Carrión et al., 2001). The same vegeta-
tional pattern is demonstrated based on the synthesis of palyno-
logical records recovered from the southeastern sector of the
Iberian Peninsula conducted by Fyfe et al. (2019). Their study
shows an increase in OJC (sum of Olea, Juglans, and Castanea
pollen) at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BP (Fyfe et al.,
2019: Figure 6). In the San Rafael sequence, the situation is less
clear; Olea pollen levels increased during the 3rd millennium
BP; however, they declined during the last 2000 years (Yll
et al., 2003).
Based on archaeobotanical evidence (higher visibility as well
as changes in both olive stone morphology and wood anatomy), an
early autochthonous olive cultivation over the course of the 5th
millennium BP, during the Chalcolithic/Early Bronze Age, has
been posited (Terral, 1996, 2000; Terral and Arnold-Simard, 1996;
Terral et al., 2004a). Other studies, also relying on the archaeobo-
tanical record, suggest a much later date for the beginning of olive
horticulture (Alonso et al., 2016; Pérez-Jordà et al., 2017). The
palynological data from the southern Iberian Peninsula do not sup-
port an early cultivation scenario since the rise in Olea pollen is
most probably climate related, as discussed above. The increase in
olive remains (seeds and charcoal) in the Chalcolithic/Early
Bronze Age botanical assemblages is also most likely linked to the
early/mid-Holocene humid phase. As presented above, the increase
in Olea pollen and other regional pollen indicators point to a pro-
found anthropogenic influence on the natural vegetation only dur-
ing the last two millennia. Other lines of evidence agree with the
palynological data: while olive stones are present in the Chalco-
lithic period (~mid-5th millennium to mid-4th millennium BP),
there is no indication that they were being cultivated, and while
their numbers increase with the approach of the Bronze Age (after
~4000 yBP), they are still not substantial. In the Bronze Age, the
olive stones found have been regarded as wild and no pottery sug-
gestive of oil production has been found (Stika, 2000). For exam-
ple, at Cueva de Toro (Malaga), olive seeds were found in a
continuous sequence of levels dating from the Middle Neolithic to
the Bronze Age, though in relatively low quantities (Buxó and
Capdevila, 1997). According to these authors, for those relying on
morphometric indices to differentiate between the wild and domes-
ticated types of seeds, the olive seeds resemble the wild types. The
wood-charcoal remains also support the suggestion that the
increase in olive remains can be attributed to the more favorable
climatic conditions prevailing during the early/mid-Holocene. The
increase in humidity permitted the species to become very abun-
dant and even to expand into favorable enclaves outside the limits
of the thermo-Mediterranean zone (Carrión et al., 2010). A signifi-
cant increase in olive remains (charcoal and olive stones) in the
archaeological record is documented only in the beginning of the
First Iron Age (~2800–2600 yBP), mainly from sites located in the
thermo-Mediterranean zone (Alonso et al., 2016; Pérez-Jordà
et al., 2017). In the middle of the Second Iron Age (~2600–2200
yBP, also called the Iberian period), the olive oil presses are
already present in the region (Pérez-Jordà, 2000).
Palynological records from the Balearic Islands were not
included in this study since none of the available datasets meet the
criteria used for pollen sites in the current research. However,
they supply some interesting supplementary observations regard-
ing Olea history in the region. Several pollen diagrams demon-
strate an abrupt and profound increase in olive pollen ratios from
the mid-late 7th millennium BP, accompanied by other dramatic
changes in the main component of the Mediterranean forest/
maquis (Cala’n Porter, Minorca – Yll et al., 1997; Algendar,
Minorca – Yll et al., 1997; Es Grau, Minorca – Burjachs, 2006;
Addaia, Minorca – Servera-Vives et al., 2018; Alcúdia, Majorca
– Burjachs et al., 1994). These profound changes in the vegetation
composition signify a phase of transformation within the natural
landscape (Burjachs et al., 2017 and references therein). Another
indication which clearly signifies that the Olea increase is not
linked to cultivation derives from the fact that the first docu-
mented human presence on the islands is only dated to the second
half of the mid-5th millennium BP (Alcover, 2008). Wood man-
agement largely reliant on Olea produced a visible impact on the
local landscape during the Bronze Age, starting from about 3700
yBP (Servera-Vives et al., 2018; Mercuri et al., 2019). As for
other north-western Mediterranean areas (e.g. southern France),
none of the available palynological records satisfy the selected
criteria for this study. In any event, according to Leveau et al.
(1991), the archaeological, archaeobotanical, and palynological
data show that olive cultivation is clearly evident in southern
France only from the Roman period.
Northern Iberian Peninsula. Since all three palynological records
are located outside the natural habitat of wild olive (Figure 1), the
low Olea pollen visibility during the early Holocene suggests the
proximity of glacial refugia. It is possible that in nearby favorable
thermo-Mediterranean micro-climates, survivors of oleaster were
part of the Mediterranean forest. In a pollen record extracted from
the northeastern coast at Lake Banyoles (Pèrez-Obiol and Julià,
1994), a similar trend to that of the southern peninsula was
observed: wild Olea pollen increases during the mid-Holocene
together with other evergreen sclerophyllous trees (Quercus ilex-
coccifera and Phillyrea; Revelles et al., 2015: Figure 4). This
simultaneous rise signifies that climate, rather than human agency,
is responsible for the increase in Olea pollen.
Modest increases in olive pollen percentages during the last
two millennia in the Laguna Negra and Charco da Candieira
records are most probably indicative of the presence of local
olive orchards (Figure 5). The latter is the westernmost record
examined in this study. Fyfe et al. (2019) suggest a slightly ear-
lier date based on palynological records retrieved from the north-
eastern sector of the Iberian Peninsula. Their study shows an
increase in OJC index by the beginning of the 3rd millennium BP
(Fyfe et al., 2019: Figure 6). According to Carrión et al. (2010),
the cultivation of the olive in later periods in this region caused
the olive trees to become more resistant to continental conditions
and even to those prevailing along the Atlantic façade of the Ibe-
rian Peninsula. Based on the comprehensive evaluation by
916 The Holocene 29(5)
Rodríguez-Ariza and Moya (2005), the picture that emerges from
the archaeobotanical and archaeological findings confirms the
palynological evidence. During the Bronze and Iron Ages (from
~3800 yBP), charcoal remains are mostly restricted to archaeo-
logical sites within the thermo-Mediterranean zones. In fact, it is
not until the Roman Period (1st–3rd centuries CE) that the range
of the charcoal remains extends more strongly into the Meso-
mediterranean and even Supramediterranean zones and that mills
and implements related to olive oil production begin to be found
(Rodríguez-Ariza and Moya, 2005). The Saldropo pollen
sequence is characterized by the rare and sporadic presence of
Olea during the entire Holocene. This record, the northernmost
profile discussed in this study, is situated outside the distribution
area of both wild and cultivated olives and may be regarded as a
‘control’ record in this research.
The spread of olive cultivation in the Mediterranean
Unlike the Near Eastern founder grain crops that are thought to
have originated in a relatively small core area and spread from
there as an integrated agro-economic package (Lev-Yadun et al.,
2000), fruit trees were adopted from several geographically
remote areas (Zohary et al., 2012). The cultivation of olive trees,
as in the case of other fruit trees, was mediated by a number of
sociocultural adaptations. The process involved a higher level of
delayed return, long-term land allocation, and labor investment in
oil processing, production structures, and storage facilities (Abbo
et al., 2015). As such, olive horticulture could have occurred only
after the domestication of annual grain crops and the establish-
ment of sedentary agricultural communities (Abbo et al., 2015;
Zohary et al., 2012). Olives are relatively slow-growing and long-
lived fruit trees with significant production starting only 5–6
years after planting, and maximal productivity attained many
years later, once the trees become large (Zinger, 1985). If well
managed, an olive tree can keep fruiting for hundreds of years
(Zohary et al., 2012). When an orchard is abandoned, it has been
shown that, following a relatively short rehabilitation process, the
orchard can once again be encouraged to yield a substantial olive
crop. In terms of agricultural/economic efficiency, the rehabilita-
tion of an orchard takes much less time than the establishment of
a new one. This could have been one of the reasons why the same
sites were repeatedly occupied during peaks of settlement activity
in antiquity (Langgut et al., 2014).
The palynological data, supported by the archaeological and
archaeobotanical evidence presented here, indicate that olive was
first cultivated in the Chalcolithic southern Levant at ~6500 yBP
(Figure 3). We suggest in this study that the significant increase in
Olea pollen percentages in southern Greece (mainly evident in
Crete) about a millennium later, at the beginning of the Early
Bronze Age, is also a result of olive horticulture (Figure 7). From
these two areas of origin, olive cultivation (probably of the
domesticated subspecies) spread across the Mediterranean Basin.
A critical question regarding olive cultivation in southern
Greece is whether this process took place independently or was
the result of knowledge and/or seedling transfer from the Levant.
One should always bear in mind that cultivation and domestica-
tion are processes that involve a long period of trial and error
(Zohary et al., 2012). Moreover, given similar environments,
technologies, and resources, human communities tend to arrive,
independently, at similar solutions. This is especially true of the
bundle of technological and agricultural developments associated
with Sherratt’s ‘secondary products revolution’, which included
– alongside olive horticulture – the diffusion (or independent
invention) of the traction complex, wool and dairy production,
and fruit-tree horticulture (Sherratt, 1981, 1983). Cultraro’s
(2013) examination of the evolution of barrel-shaped churns in
the eastern and Central Mediterranean is a case in point: although
first encountered in the Chalcolithic Levant, they are found virtu-
ally coevally in central Europe, whence they may have diffused
southward to northern Greece and Anatolia. Their later appear-
ance in Sicily and Crete could be a case of convergent evolution
based on a universal goatskin prototype, so that actual contact
between distant cultures featuring ceramic churns may never
have, in fact, occurred. That said, the Levantine communities
stand out for their precociousness, combining multiple new prac-
tices and technologies as effective packages for subsistence and
for eventual wealth generation as early as the late 7th millennium
BP. In the Aegean, this occurred later, in the late 5th millennium
BP, and it was only then that the island communities expanded
their horizons, as their elites began to engage with the world on a
larger scale (Broodbank, 2013: 339).
Cultivation of the highly productive domesticated olive trees
in other regions across the Mediterranean Basin occurred much
later than in the Levant and the Aegean (Figure 8) and was most
likely the outcome of the transfer of knowledge and/or the plant
material itself. Based on the palynological dataset presented in
this study, olive cultivation began in the northern Levant at about
4800 yBP. In north-western Anatolia, an initial olive cultivation
may have occurred at ~4600–4500 yBP (Miebach et al., 2016),
while large-scale olive horticulture is assumed palynologically
Figure 8. Suggested dates in yBP for the beginning of olive horticulture in the Mediterranean regions considered in this study. Base map:
Google Earth.
Langgut et al. 917
for the entire Anatolian region by 3200 yBP. In mainland Italy, it
is dated to 3400 yBP, whereas in the Mediterranean sectors of the
Iberian Peninsula olive cultivation is evident palynologically only
during the last two millennia (Figure 8). The archaeological
record supports a slightly earlier date, during the mid/late 3rd mil-
lennium BP.
As is the case with other cultivated crops and innovations,
factors which may have reinforced the spread of Olea culture
are related to trade connections and to colonization. An extraor-
dinary example of the expansion of olive cultivation into areas
far from its natural habitat can be seen in southwest Iran. Within
the palynological diagram from Lake Parishan, a short-lived
peak of olive pollen was documented, starting at ~2500 yBP and
lasting about 300 years (Djamali et al., 2016). Since Olea is not
native to this region, this peak points to a period of significant
local olive cultivation. It can be hypothesized that the Persians
encountered these trees abroad, especially after their conquests
in the Eastern Mediterranean, and then introduced them into
their homeland (Djamali et al., 2016). This hypothesis also
seems to be corroborated by the fact that the term used to indi-
cate the olive in the Achaemenid Elamite and Persian languages
(zadaum, zaita, zayt) were west Semitic loanwords (in Hebrew:
zayit, in Arabic zaytun). The relatively short duration of olive
cultivation in the vicinity of Lake Perishan can be explained in
light of the improved trade routes, which made it more efficient
to simply import the final products rather than produce them
locally. The cessation of olive cultivation could also be the
result of climate; the Irano-Turanian environment of southwest
Iran is harsher than the Mediterranean vegetation zone where
olive cultivation thrives. Orchards could have been paralyzed
due to waves of extremely low temperatures that characterize
the region from time to time.
Conclusion
1. This study demonstrates the effective use of fossil pollen
as a proxy for tracing the cultivation history of a specific
taxon in a vast geographical region. The palynologi-
cal method was used in this study to trace the history of
oleiculture across the Mediterranean. Olive pollen grains
reflect human activity when their percentage curves rise
fairly suddenly through time, and are not accompanied by
other tree members of the Mediterranean forest/maquis
with similar environmental requirements and when the
rise occurs in combination with consistent archaeological
and archaeobotanical evidence. The cultivation of olive
trees allowed for the expansion of the species beyond its
natural habitats and significantly increased the amount of
Olea pollen in the atmosphere.
2. The presence of olive pollen during the early Holocene in
low ratios in almost all of the palynological records used
in this study, clearly indicates that the investigated regions
served as areas of Pleistocene refugia for Olea europaea.
Therefore, Olea europaea is native to the coastal areas of
the Levant, Anatolia, Greece, Sicily, Italy, and the Iberian
Peninsula.
3. The pollen data in conjunction with the archaeological and
archaeobotanical evidence indicate that primary olive hor-
ticulture occurred in the southern Levant, not later than
~6500 yBP. Several centuries later, during the early/mid
6th millennium BP, the palynological evidence indicates
that olive cultivation also occurred in the Aegean (Crete).
It is not yet clear whether this process can be considered
an independent cultivation event or as having resulted
from knowledge (and possibly plant) transmission from
the southern Levant. In any event, this early olive horticul-
ture corresponds to the establishment of the Mediterranean
village economy and the completion of the ‘secondary
products revolution’, rather than to urbanization or state
formation. It was primarily a rural staple economic strat-
egy that was only secondarily (and much later) co-opted
by Early Bronze Age elites as an instrument of political-
economic leverage.
4. From the two areas of origin, the southern Levant and the
Aegean, olive horticulture spread across the Mediterra-
nean. Based on the pollen dataset used in this study, the
beginning of olive horticulture is dated to ~4800 yBP in
the northern Levant. In Anatolia, large-scale olive hor-
ticulture is dated to ~3200 yBP and in mainland Italy to
~3400 yBP. In the southern sectors of the Iberian Penin-
sula, olive horticulture is evident palynologically only
during the last two millennia. The archaeological record
supports a slightly earlier date, during the mid/late 3rd
millennium BP. Although the current palynological results
seem to stand and are reinforced by a series of other lines
of evidence, one should bear in mind that the results of this
study may be skewed by the relative scarcity of palyno-
logical, archaeological and archaeobotanical information
from specific regions (e.g. the northern Levant).
5. This study has made a significant contribution to under-
standing the cultivation history of the olive tree across
the Mediterranean in the context of climatic and anthro-
pogenic pressures. Interpretations from this basin-wide
regional dataset have potential in informing the future cul-
tivation of this economically important species.
Acknowledgements
Part of the pollen data used in this study originated from the Euro-
pean Pollen Database (EPD; http://www.europeanpollendatabase.
net/); the work of the data contributors and the EPD community is
gratefully acknowledged. I. Ben-Ezra is thanked for his help with
the preparation of Figure 1. Discussions that led to this paper were
initiated at a workshop held in September 2017 at the Santuari de
Lluc in Mallorca, as part of the Leverhulme-funded Changing the
Face of the Mediterranean project. We thank Joan Estrany and the
University of the Balearics for help with organising this work-
shop. This research is a contribution to the Past Global Changes
(PAGES) project and its working group LandCover6k, which is
supported by the Swiss Academy of Sciences.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research,
authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Supplemental material
Supplemental material for this article is available online.
ORCID iD
Anna Maria Mercuri https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6138-4165
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