1H NMR, 1H–1H 2D TOCSY and GC-MS analyses for the identification of olive oil in Early Bronze Age pottery from Castelluccio (Noto, Italy)

Tanasi, Davide; Greco, Enrico; Noor, Radwan Ebna; Feola, Stephanie; Kumar, Vijay; Crispino, Anita; Gelis, Ioannis

doi:10.1039/c8ay00420j

Cited by 21 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The nature and origins of organic remains that cannot be characterized using traditional techniques of archaeobotanical investigation, such as vegetable oils, can be traced by molecular-chemical techniques (residue analysis). Pottery vessels are a good example of archaeological contexts from which residue analyses can extract positive markers of olive oil (Koh and Betancourt, 2010;Namdar et al, 2015;Tanasi et al, 2018). Since olive oil could have been exported, the finding of olive oil organic residue does not necessarily point to olive horticulture in the immediate surroundings of the site.…”

Section: A Note On Archaeological and Archaeobotanical Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…For the same reason, the macro-botanical evidence also does not supply a clear answer regarding the date of cultivation of domesticated olive in Sicily. More direct evidence comes from residues in three Early Bronze pottery vessels found at Castelluccio (southern Sicily): chemical signatures of olive oil were identified, dated to the 5th and the beginning of the 4th millennium BP (Tanasi et al, 2018).…”

Section: Olive Cultivation History In the Central Mediterraneanmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The presence of olive waste from Tufariello (Buccino) dated ~3800-3400 yBP (the Middle Bronze Age) supplies direct evidence for olive oil production (Rowan, 2015). The earliest chemical signatures of olive oil are those of Broglio di Trebisacce (Cosenza) and Roca Vecchia (Lecce), where large storage jars (dolia) dated to the Late Bronze Age (~3200-3000 yBP) tested positive for oil presence (Tanasi et al, 2018 and references therein).…”

Section: Olive Cultivation History In the Central Mediterraneanmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The origin and spread of olive cultivation in the Mediterranean Basin: The fossil pollen evidence

Langgut¹,

et al. 2019

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Olive ( Olea europaea L.) was one of the most important fruit trees in the ancient Mediterranean region and a founder species of horticulture in the Mediterranean Basin. Different views have been expressed regarding the geographical origins and timing of olive cultivation. Since genetic studies and macro-botanical remains point in different directions, we turn to another proxy – the palynological evidence. This study uses pollen records to shed new light on the history of olive cultivation and large-scale olive management. We employ a fossil pollen dataset composed of high-resolution pollen records obtained across the Mediterranean Basin covering most of the Holocene. Human activity is indicated when Olea pollen percentages rise fairly suddenly, are not accompanied by an increase of other Mediterranean sclerophyllous trees, and when the rise occurs in combination with consistent archaeological and archaeobotanical evidence. Based on these criteria, our results show that the southern Levant served as the locus of primary olive cultivation as early as ~6500 years BP (yBP), and that a later, early/mid 6th millennium BP cultivation process occurred in the Aegean (Crete) – whether as an independent large-scale management event or as a result of knowledge and/or seedling transfer from the southern Levant. Thus, the early management of olive trees corresponds to the establishment of the Mediterranean village economy and the completion of the ‘secondary products revolution’, rather than urbanization or state formation. From these two areas of origin, the southern Levant and the Aegean olive cultivation spread across the Mediterranean, with the beginning of olive horticulture in the northern Levant dated to ~4800 yBP. In Anatolia, large-scale olive horticulture was palynologically recorded by ~3200 yBP, in mainland Italy at ~3400 yBP, and in the Iberian Peninsula at mid/late 3rd millennium BP.

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Section: A Note On Archaeological and Archaeobotanical Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Olive Cultivation History In the Central Mediterraneanmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Olive Cultivation History In the Central Mediterraneanmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The origin and spread of olive cultivation in the Mediterranean Basin: The fossil pollen evidence

Langgut¹,

et al. 2019

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“…Olive cultivation in Italy, based on pollen, anthracological or chemical analyses [8,[132][133][134], is thought to have taken place since the outset of the 2nd millennium BC. However, this evidence is not bolstered by carpological data.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Emergence of Arboriculture in the 1st Millennium BC along the Mediterranean’s “Far West”

Pérez‐Jordà

Alonso

Rovira³

et al. 2021

Agronomy

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This paper presents the history of the introduction and expansion of arboriculture during the 1st millennium BC from the South of the Iberian Peninsula to the South of France. The earliest evidence of arboriculture at the beginning of the 1st millennium hails from the south of the Iberia from where it spread northward along the peninsula’s eastern edge. The different fruits (grape, olive, fig, almond, pomegranate and apple/pear) arrived together in certain areas in spite of uneven distribution and acceptance by local communities. Grape was the crop with the greatest diffusion. The greater diversity of crops in the southern half of the peninsula is also noteworthy. Their development paved the way for a commercial agricultural model in some territories where fruits and their derivatives, such as wine and oil, played vital roles.

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“…More recent analyses with spectroscopic and chromatographic methods have established the lipid nature of organic traces in some archeological glass bottles, though the results appear inconclusive, leaving the residue chemically and chronologically yet uncharacterized 4 – 6 . Tanasi et al 7 analyzed residues of prehistoric lipids from Sicily by gas chromatography (GC)/mass spectrometry (MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). However, the profound chemical modifications occurring throughout such a long time interval complicate the assessment of the nature of oils or fats, primarily because the fatty acid (FA) profile drastically changes due to the very different oxidation rate depending on the degree of unsaturation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Olive oil from the 79 A.D. Vesuvius eruption stored at the Naples National Archaeological Museum (Italy)

et al. 2020

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Using a range of chromatographic, spectroscopic, and mass spectrometric analytical techniques, we characterized one of the “edible items” found at the Vesuvius archeological sites and guarded at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples (MANN) in Naples, Italy. We authenticated the specimen contained in a glass bottle (Mann-S1 sample) as originally olive oil and mapped the deep evolution throughout its 2000 years of storage. Triacylglycerols were completely hydrolyzed, while the resulting (hydroxy) fatty acids had partly condensed into rarely found estolides. A complex pattern of volatile compounds arose mainly from breakdown of oleic acid. With excellent approximation, radiocarbon dating placed the find at the time of the Plinian Mount Vesuvius eruption in 79 A.D., indicating that Mann-S1 is probably the oldest residue of olive oil in the world found in bulk amount (nearly 0.7 L).

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¹H NMR, ¹H–¹H 2D TOCSY and GC-MS analyses for the identification of olive oil in Early Bronze Age pottery from Castelluccio (Noto, Italy)

Abstract: The development of analytical research in recent decades, at the edge between analytical chemistry and archaeology, provides new methods for the study of organic residues that are usually highly sensitive to natural decay.

Cited by 21 publications

References 26 publications

The origin and spread of olive cultivation in the Mediterranean Basin: The fossil pollen evidence

The origin and spread of olive cultivation in the Mediterranean Basin: The fossil pollen evidence

The Emergence of Arboriculture in the 1st Millennium BC along the Mediterranean’s “Far West”

Olive oil from the 79 A.D. Vesuvius eruption stored at the Naples National Archaeological Museum (Italy)

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