14 DAY TRIAL // A recent paper in the Israel Journal of Plant Sciences announces the discovery of several ancient clay pots in present-day Israel. What's interesting is that, while studying these pots, researchers found them to be laced with trace amounts of olive oil.
In the report documenting their work, archaeologists Ianir Milevski and Nimrod Getzov, together with their colleagues at the Israel Antiquities Authority, argue that these traces constitute the earliest evidence of olive oil use in this corner of the world.
Besides, the specialists say that, all things considered, it might be that the clay pots are also the earliest evidence of olive oil consumption in the entire Mediterranean basin. Hence, the pots are expected to help researchers better understand what life was like in this area millennia ago.
“This is the earliest evidence of the use of olive oil in the country, and perhaps the entire Mediterranean basin,” Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists Ianir Milevski and Nimrod Getzov explain in the paper announcing this find, as cited by Live Science.
How the researchers found the clay pots
Like plenty of other artifacts dating back to ancient times, the clay pots were discovered quite by chance. Thus, the archaeologists say that they stumbled upon them when authorities asked them to take the time and explore a site in the Lower Galilee region prior to the expansion of a local highway.
By the looks of it, authorities wanted to make sure that the planned expansion of the highway would not damage any hidden artifacts of historical importance. As it turns out, their suspicions that something of great value was lurking in the area were spot on.
It is understood that the clay pots were unearthed between the years 2011 and 2013. Having pulled them from the ground, the Israel Antiquities Authority researchers got busy studying them in detail and found them to contain trace amounts of olive oil.
Seeing how the 20 clay pots that were studied as part of this investigation date back to the 6th millennium BC, this means that the olive oil traces found inside them are some 8,000 years old as well, the archaeologists explain in their report.
The importance of this archaeological find
Specialists Ianir Milevski and Nimrod Getzov explain that the discovery of these 8,000-year-old clay pots containing traces of olive oil is evidence that, as long suspected, our ancestors in the area first domesticated the olive tree sometime in the 6th millennium BC.
What's more, it's safe to assume that the olive trees that served to make oil 8,000 years ago in Israel were grown alongside all sorts of other crops. Otherwise put, people who populated the region millennia ago were no strangers to healthy and tasty foods.
