Flow Chart Showing the Process of Olive Oil Extraction

OLIVE CULTIVATION IN ANCIENT ISRAEL

The cultivation of olive trees, the production of olive oil, and its transshipment were significant components of the economy of the Levant from at least the Chalcolithic period, as attested to by olive pits found in Chalcolithic sites (e.g. at Teleilat el-Ghassul), with the olive tree having been cultivated already in the Neolithic period, as witnessed to by the recovery of olive stones from the excavations in Jericho in Natufian and PPNB contexts. At most Palestinian sites, however, olive wood is not found in large quantities until the Early Bronze Age when large-scale cultivation of the olive tree appears to have coincided with the onset of urbanization (Frankel, 1997:179). Archaeological investigations have provided considerable evidence concerning the abundance of olives in ancient Israel. Olive stones have been found in numerous sites, but since olives were transported from one site to another, they can only confirm the place of olives in the diet. Archaeological remains of olive wood, on the other hand, provide more specific information. The earliest wood remains yet found in ancient Israel belong to the cultivated Mediterranean species, Olea Europea.

Frick, Frank S. “‘Oil from Flinty Rock’ (Deuteronomy 32:13): Olive Cultivation and Olive Oil Processing in the Hebrew Bible—A Socio-Materialist Perspective.” Ed. Athalya Brenner and Jan Willem van Heuter. Semeia 86 (1999): 3–4. Print.