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Veget Hist Archaeobot DOI 10.1007/s00334-017-0631-1 1 ORIGINAL ARTICLE 2 Did Greek colonisation bring olive growing to the north? 3 An integrated archaeobotanical investigation of the spread of Olea 4 europaea in Greece from the 7th to the 1st millennium BC 5 Soultana Maria Valamoti1 · Eugenia Gkatzogia1 · Maria Ntinou1,2 6 Received: 8 December 2016 / Accepted: 14 August 2017 7 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2017 AQ18 Abstract This paper discusses the distribution of archae- Keywords Olea europaea · Greek colonisation · Olive 33 9 obotanical remains of Olea europaea (olive) across space oil · Olive cultivation · Gymnasia 34 AQ210 and through time in mainland Greece and the Aegean from 11 Neolithic to Hellenistic times (7th millennium-1st century 12 BC) in order to explore the history of olive use in the study Introduction 35 13 area. Olive stones and olive charcoal retrieved from prehis- 14 toric and historic sites on mainland Greece and the islands Olea europaea (olive) and the oil extracted from its fruit 36 15 offer the basis for a discussion of the context and processes have been important for past communities inhabiting the 37 16 involved in the introduction of olive cultivation to the study lands surrounding the Mediterranean. The origins of its 38 17 area. The olive was nearly absent for most of the Neolithic domestication through management and intentional propa- 39 18 and only appears in the southern parts of mainland Greece gation lie in prehistoric times, with different views expressed 40 19 and the islands towards the end of the period. From the Early in the literature about the geographical origins and timing 41 20 Bronze Age onwards it becomes increasingly visible in the of this process. Olive oil, together with cereals and wine, 42 21 archaeobotanical record. A possible cause for the introduc- holds a key position in the notion of the ‘Mediterranean 43 22 tion and increased presence of the olive during the Bronze triad’ (Renfrew 1972a, b), which, with the addition of pulses 44 23 Age could have been for oil production for elite use and was later described as a tetrad (Sarpaki 1992), a group of 45 24 trade. From the Bronze Age palaces of the 2nd millennium crops and foodstuffs that have stereotypically been associ- 46 25 BC to the Hellenistic kingdoms towards the end of the 1st ated with the Mediterranean in a longue durée perspective. 47 26 millennium BC, the olive thrived and was introduced north- Renfrew, in his influential work ‘The emergence of civilisa- 48 27 wards to new terrain, more marginal for olive growing than tion’ considered olive cultivation as an essential element 49 28 the warm lands of southern Greece. This introduction of of the Mediterranean polyculture, together with cereals 50 29 olives to the northern Aegean region could be attributed to and grapes (Renfrew 1972a, b). In this context, he consid- 51 30 Greek colonisation and the increase in later times to a gradu- ered olive growing as a decisive factor in the emergence of 52 31 ally increasing need for olive oil, perhaps associated with the Bronze Age elites due to its cultivation on marginal land 53 32 emergence of new lifestyles, such as training in gymnasia. that was less suited for cereal cultivation; this in turn, led to 54 a need for the accumulation and redistribution of different 55 UNCORRECTEDagricultural products, PROOF assembled from a diversely exploited 56 57 A1 Communicated by C. Bouchaud. landscape, organised by a central place and emerging elites (Renfrew 1972a, b). Other parameters that link the growing 58 A2 * Soultana Maria Valamoti of olives to emergence of elites in the Mediterranean include 59 A3 [email protected] the high labour requirements and the late return, as olive 60 61 A4 1 School of History and Archaeology, Aristotle University trees will normally not yield an optimal crop before they A5 of Thessaloniki, 54 124 Thessaloniki, Greece are 25–30 years old, both factors ultimately tying people to 62 63 A6 2 M.H. Wiener Laboratory, The American School of Classical the cultivated land and rendering them more vulnerable to A7 Studies at Athens, 54 Souidias Street, 106 76 Athens, Greece power manipulation (Gillman et al. 1981). Olives are mainly 64 Vol.:(0123456789)1 3 Journal : Large 334 Article No : 631 Pages : 19 MS Code : VHAA-D-16-00088 Dispatch : 19-8-2017 Veget Hist Archaeobot 65 grown for olive oil production. This, however, does not nec- 2013). Only in one case has an olive leaf been recorded, 115 66 essarily imply a culinary use for this olive oil. As early as from Chrysocamino (Table 1, site 8), since no olive stone 116 67 1988, Runnels and Hansen called for great caution as regards or charcoal has been reported from this site. Occasionally 117 68 inferences for a widespread culinary use of olive oil in the there are also chance finds or those originating from grab 118 69 prehistoric Aegean. Their arguments are based mainly on sampling where olive stones were visible. Published pollen 119 70 the limited visibility of the olive in the archaeobotanical data, where relevant, are also discussed. Table 1 presents 120 71 record from Greece. Similar reservations are encountered all records of macrobotanical remains of olive stones and 121 72 in the work of researchers who have investigated the olive charcoal known to the authors. Rich concentrations of more 122 73 in Linear B texts, artefactual and archaeobotanical remains than 20 stones are indicated wherever quantified data are 123 74 (Boulotis 1996; Hamilakis 1996, 1999; Valamoti 2009; Fap- available; the minimum number of olive stones presented 124 75 pas 2010). Overall, however, one often encounters in the in Table 1 is based on complete specimens reported in the 125 76 relevant literature assumptions of a widespread culinary respective publications. For many sites, however, no quanti- 126 77 use of olive oil as essential elements of Minoan and Myce- fication data were available to include in our table. Although 127 78 naean societies (Sarpaki 1999; Tzedakis and Martlew 1999; 20 stones may seem a small number in absolute terms, it is 128 79 Zohary et al. 2012). Our paper offers a new review of the quite rare for prehistoric sites to yield larger numbers of 129 80 archaeobotanical record of Greece which, since the work of olive stones, partly because their processing might have been 130 81 Hansen (1988) and Hamilakis (1996) three and two decades carried out away from settlements (Margaritis 2013a; Rowan 131 82 ago respectively, has increased both in quantity and quality. 2015) and partly because they might have been highly com- 132 83 Our integrated approach in this paper, examining both olive bustible, leading to high temperatures impeding preserva- 133 84 stones and charcoal from numerous sites all over Greece tion of the stones by charring, for example the very small 134 85 and covering a long period of approximately 7,000 years, fragments of the Tzambakas finds (Sarpaki 1999). Table 1 135 86 is attempted for the first time for such a broad geographi- comprises all information on the sites, the periods and the 136 87 cal range and time span and therefore presents a unique relevant bibliographic references and it offers a finer time 137 88 opportunity to explore patterns of olive use in this part of resolution than that shown on the map (Fig. 1). We have 138 89 southeastern Europe in space and in time. Based on this assumed that scattered wood charcoal remains at an archaeo- 139 90 integration of archaeobotanical evidence, we investigate the logical site reflect part of the local flora that has been col- 140 91 significance of the olive for communities inhabiting Greece lected for firewood (Chabal 1988, 1992; Théry-Parisot et al. 141 92 from the 7th millennium BC to the 2nd/1st century BC. We 2010). Olive wood charcoal may be considered a relatively 142 93 explore regional patterns and their changes through time in safe indicator of the local growth of olive, particularly in 143 94 relation to the origins of olive cultivation and oil consump- comparison to endocarps (stones), whose presence may be 144 95 tion, placing special emphasis on exchange networks, the due to human transport of the fruit over wide areas, and also 145 96 significance of oil use and the introduction of new lifestyles in comparison to pollen grains found in natural deposits, 146 97 such as the emergence of gymnasia. which may have been carried by natural agents over variable 147 distances. For this reason, both the presence and absence 148 of olive wood charcoal is taken into consideration in this 149 98 Materials and methods review and shown on the map. Its presence provides evi- 150 dence for the earliest appearance of the tree in the vegeta- 151 99 This paper is based on a thorough recording of the remains tion of an area and the use of its wood. Absence of olive 152 100 of Olea europaea retrieved from Greek archaeological wood charcoal may reflect low availability or absence of the 153 101 sites spanning the Neolithic (7000–3300 BC) through to the tree, particularly important issues for the earlier prehistoric 154 102 end of the 1st millennium BC (1st century). The remains periods or for northern locations. In the present review of 155 103 presented here include both olive stones and charcoal and the wood charcoal evidence for the olive, the data, in par- 156 104 these two lines of evidence are integrated to achieve the ticular for the Neolithic period, originate from sites where 157 105 goals of this paper, to understand the process of the emer- the methodological requirements of charcoal studies were 158 106 gence and spreadUNCORRECTED of olive growing in ancient Greece.

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