An olive is a lovely thing; or rather, at least 2,000 different lovely things, in a huge variety of colors, shapes and flavors of fruit developed since the olive's domestication some six thousand years ago in the Mediterranean basin.
Olive Trees in the West Bank. Photo by David Silverman / Getty Images
Although olives are not the oldest tree showing signs of domestication--that would be the fig--olives are definitely embedded in the ancient history of western literature. Wild olives (oleasters) were probably used for oil as long ago as 19,000 years ago; but the trees weren't cultivated and tended until ~4500 BC, in the Near East.
Read more about the History of Olives...
- Domestication of Olives
- Domestication of Figs
- Plant Domestication Table
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