Abstract
At the same time as the first cereal crops were being cultivated, Neolithic man began to look after trees that were useful to him, including olive trees, which grew on marginal land, in the garrigues and hills, where cereal cultivation was not possible, thus offering complementarity and dietary diversification. Insofar as the harvesting of the fruits of the vine and the making of wine are at least as old, we can see that the Mediterranean triad of cereals, wine and olive oil was established as early as the Neolithic period, around 6 000 BC It was at this time that the first traces of olive cultivation appear, in the form of olive stones and leaves, at Thera (Santorini) in the Cyclades. During the Mycenaean period, a network of trade practices and products was established around the production of oil and wine, with a strong economic impact. By the Iron Age, we're even beginning to talk about intensive production.
