8,000-year-old Olive Oil Has Been Discovered In Israel

Video: 8,000-year-old Olive Oil Has Been Discovered In Israel

Video: 8,000-year-old Olive Oil Has Been Discovered In Israel
Video: MAKING OLIVE OIL IN ISRAEL 2024, November
8,000-year-old Olive Oil Has Been Discovered In Israel
8,000-year-old Olive Oil Has Been Discovered In Israel
Anonim

Shortly before the start of the highway expansion process in Galilee, northern Israel, archaeologists came across a Chalcolithic settlement, Ein Tsipori. In ancient times it was large with an area of about 4 hectares.

At the very beginning of the study, archaeologists discovered large quantities of pottery and pottery. Specialists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem extracted organic sludge from analyzes of the remains of something stored in them. Thus, they come across the remnants of oil that has been absorbed by the clay.

The find is about 8000 years old. According to archaeologists, the fragments found may be the earliest evidence of olive oil production. This finding supports the widespread theory that humans began cultivating and growing olives 6,000 to 8,000 years ago.

The pottery used to store olive oil is 8,000 years old, which sends it back to the Early Chalcolithic (Copper Age). To complete the data, archaeologists are also examining one-year-old remnants of olive oil in modern pottery. It turns out that there is almost no chemical difference between ancient and modern samples.

Olive oil and olives
Olive oil and olives

Of the vessels discovered for the research, a total of 20 ceramic vessels were used, including two 7,800 years old in which olive oil has been preserved. This is currently the first evidence that olive oil has been used in Israel so early.

As far back as 8,000 years ago, the people of the Levant reached the second stage of plant domestication. In addition, these data are the earliest recorded worldwide.

So far, the earliest evidence of olive oil production has been found in the village of Kfar Samir, south of Haifa. Thousands of crushed olive stones, 6,500 years old, were found there.

However, archaeologists explain that the discovery of pottery with olive residues can undoubtedly prove the use of olives for olive production, but not that the locals grew trees. This is yet to be proven or denied.

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