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Olive Cultivation

Type Object Region Mediterranean Time c. -1000

After domestication on the eastern Mediterranean coast, the olive (Olea europaea) was widely planted in Greece, Italy, and the Levant around 1000 BCE…

Timeline

  1. c. -1000–-700Mainland Greece and Crete · GreeceOlive presses and pollen evidence at archaeological sites show that the Greek world systematically cultivated olive groves from the Geometric period onward, with olive oil becoming an important export and sacrificial offering.
  2. c. -800–-500Italian peninsula and Sicily · ItalyPhoenician and Greek colonists brought olive cultivation to Italy and the North African coast, forming a trans-Mediterranean olive oil trade network that influenced the agricultural structure of the early Roman Republic.

Sources