Olives and olive oil were among the main agricultural products of antiquity, along with cereals, legumes, wine and livestock products. Their use and the domestication of the olive tree date back to at least the Neolithic period. Over the course of time, these products have been used for domestic, palatial or artisanal production, commercial trafficking, tribute collection and public distribution. Fluctuations in usage according to culture and the development of olive growing are part of the historical framework, both in the long term and in the ups and downs of economic and political history.
A first year of lectures and seminars, in 2017-2018, was devoted to a state of knowledge on the natural history, cultivation of the olive tree, oil production techniques and the uses made of it by the Ancients. The origins of the tree's domestication and the spread of varieties were studied on the basis of genetic and archaeobotanical studies, made possible by the systematic collection of pits and charcoal from archaeological sediments. This was followed by a review of the various phases of olive processing, whose botanical parameters dictate stages that have changed little until modern technology. The uses of oils, whether for food or non-food purposes, in ancient civilizations were examined to determine their fundamental parameters, in relation to our contemporary practices.