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by Cemre Altın

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"OLEA PRIMA OMNIUM ARBORUM EST."
- The olive tree is the first of all trees.
Roman agricultural writer and theorist Columella (4 - c. 70 AD)

The olive (Olea europaea L.) is a well-known evergreen tree, native to the Mediterranean coast, of which the fruit and oil are used for food and cooking.

The olive tree grows slowly but has a very long life. The average lifespan of an olive tree is 300-400 years, but olive trees are also found at 3000 years old. For this reason, the name of the olive tree is the "immortal tree" in mythology and botany.

Olive, which has been a source of many legends in its historical development, has taken its place in the inscriptions and holy books of ancient civilizations. Olive branch has been accepted as a symbol of peace for centuries since a white dove returned to Noah's ark with an olive branch as a sign of vitality after the Flood.

The known history of olives, the world's healthiest and natural vegetable oil source, goes back to the period around six thousand years ago. A recent scientific study on the DNA of cultivated and wild olive varieties of Mediterranean basin testifies that the cultivation of wild olive tree first occurred approximately 6000-8000 years ago at the borders of Syria and Turkey.

Later on olive tree had spread to whole of Mediterranean basin through trade routes of Mediterranean economies. Though olive tree has been cultivated around 4000 BC, the production of edible olive oil goes back to early Bronze Age, 3150 to 1200 BC. Throughout various Mediterranean civilizations, olive tree occupied an important position in agricultural economy and trade. Tablets those are found in Northern Syria dating middle of 3000 BC mention large scale of olive oil production, whereas Hittite texts and Egyptian records testify olive cultivation in Anatolia, around Cilician region.

South-east Anatolia is known to be the cradle and gene center of the olive, a claim that is corroborated by subspecies of olive found in a line stretching from Hatay to Kahramanmaras and Mardin. From south-east Anatolia, this noble tree spread to west Anatolia, then fanning out to Greece, Italy, and Spain via the Aegean Islands.

In those areas, there are many archeological sites with olive-related findings, such as milling stones, decantation basins, storage vessels, frescos, and ancient writings. In the Palace of Knossos on the island of Crete, clay tables recording the trade of olive oil can be traced to 1700 BCE. In Turkey at Urla, near Izmir, there is an ancient olive oil processing facility dating to 600 BCE. Many clay vessels, called amphora, which were used to store and transport olive oil, can be found in ruins throughout the area.

Anatolia, the crossroads of civilisations, has been home to the olive tree for 6000 years. The olive has brought peace, health and beauty to the region. It is the fascinating secret of the longevity of the Mediterranean peoples and bears delicious traditional produce that is shared by different civilisations.

Olive has been a symbol of Mediterranean civilization throughout history and has been long established in Turkey. The lineage of the first olives is found on the border between Turkey and Syria based on written tablets, olive pits, and wood fragments found in ancient tombs.

The way in which the oil is extracted from olives is another tradition that has not changed in millennia. The extraction method today is the same as six thousand years ago. The olives are merely crushed into a mash to which pressure is applied to extract the oil without any chemical processes. The oil is then separated from the fruit vegetable water. Technological developments in the early nineteenth century saw the advent of hydraulic presses, which are used nowadays alongside centrifugal systems, the most widespread of which is known as the continuous system.

The miraculous fruit of the olive tree is consumed in fruit and oil form, it is used as raw material for soap and natural medicine, and it is also burned as fuel. During countless ages, the miraculous olive has been considered an elixir of beauty and health.

Olive oil, which is the most important product of the olive tree, was called "liquid gold" by mankind, while it was used only as a fuel at first, and later took the most important place in human nutrition. Historically, olive oil was used for many purposes including religious rituals, medicines, fuel in oil lamps, soap-making, and skin care application. Indeed, olive oil not only reduces risks associated with heart attack, but it also regulates cholesterol levels, prevents stomach discomforts, and makes skin more beautiful. Its color, aroma, taste and ease of digestion make it unique. Unlike other herbal oils - such as sunflower, soy, cottonseed, and corn - olive oil is produced naturally, with no additives and no chemical processes.

Table olives (made edible by salting) were eaten, but most of the crops produced went into making oil. Although oil was a common product, it was not necessarily a cheap one and there were different grades of quality. Olive trees produce a full harvest only every other year, sometime from October to December, and the ancient Mediterranean believed that the earlier they were harvested (when still green) and pressed, the finer the oil. However, leaving collection later in the season allows for the olives to continue growing, ripen so that they become black, and so more oil can be pressed from them. The finest quality oil, as today, came from the first pressing and when the mash had the minimum number of stones in it.

The olives were crushed either underfoot (the crusher wearing wooden sandals), with pestle and mortar, using a stone roller, or in presses. The first mechanical production method coming from Klazomenai in Turkey. The oldest olive oil facility, dating back to 600 BC, can be found at the ancient settlement of Klazomenai in west Anatolia, in the Urla district near the city of Izmir.

Vincent van Gogh, one of the most famous and influential figures in the history of art, painted at least 15 paintings of olive trees in 1889. He found respite and relief in interaction with nature, yet the paintings are considered to be among his finest works.

He wrote to his brother Theo that he was "struggling to catch (the olive trees). They are old silver, sometimes with more blue in them, sometimes greenish, bronzed, fading white above a soil which is yellow, pink, violet tinted orange... very difficult." He found that the "rustle of the olive grove has something very secret in it, and immensely old. It is too beautiful for us to dare to paint it or to be able to imagine it."

In the olive trees - in the expressive power of their ancient and gnarled forms - van Gogh found a manifestation of the spiritual force he believed resided in all of nature.

His brushstrokes make the soil and even the sky seem alive with the same rustling motion as the leaves, stirred to a shimmer by the Mediterranean wind. These strong individual dashes do not seem painted so much as drawn onto the canvas with a heavily loaded brush. The energy in their continuous rhythm communicates to us, in an almost physical way, the living force that van Gogh found within the trees themselves, the very spiritual force that he believed had shaped them.

The value and unique characteristics of olives and olive oil have been acknowledged for centuries and are gaining even more prominence today. Cultivation of this noble fruit is concentrated in specific regions of the world, primarily in the countries bordering the shores of the Mediterranean. Turkey is one of those fortunate countries and is ranked as the world's second biggest producer.

Over the past ten years, Turkey has made major progress in olive cultivation. It has established processing plants with the technology and capacity to produce large volumes of top-quality olive oils and table olives for the world market. It has also made impressive advances in olive oil production. active in the extraction, refining and packaging of olive oil to world standards have taken up their rightful place in the industry and continue to pursue success. In the years ahead, Turkey intends to push forward with development and increase its share of global trade.

Historical Olive and Olive Oil Landmarks in Turkey

1. Erythrai, near Cesme (Ildır) This ancient city was one of the leading olive oil export centres in the 6th century BC.

2. Urla An olive oil press dating from the 6th century BC was discovered at this site as well as olive stores from between the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC.

3. Izmir The place where Homer read his epics to friends and dined with them under the shade of olive trees in 1199 BC.

4. Miletus Thales of Miletus forecast the next year's olive yields according to his meteorological studies.

5. Kaş UluburunRemains of olives were found on board the Uluburun Bronze Age shipwreck.

6. Mut A 1300-year-old olive tree still lives here.

7. Hatay This place is the motherland of the olive and home to Turkey's second oldest olive tree, the trunk of which measures 110 cm in diameter.

8. Ağrı Doves carrying olive branches in their beak to Noah's Ark have been the symbol of peace since time immemorial.

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The History of the Olive Tree | Artem Oliva™ - Pure Mediterranean

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"OLEA PRIMA OMNIUM ARBORUM EST." - The olive tree is the first of all trees. Roman agricultural writer and theorist Columella (4 - c. 70 AD) The olive (Olea europaea L.) is a well-known evergreen tree, native to the Mediterranean coast, of which the fruit and oil are used for food and cooking.

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HERMES PETROSANI ECONOMIC COLLEGE, ROMANIA 

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HERMES PETROSANI ECONOMIC COLLEGE, ROMANIA 

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prof Carmen Goia
students: Andreea and Adela

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HERMES PETROSANI ECONOMIC COLLEGE, ROMANIA - Andree and Adela

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Dilara Oy.
Bursa Anatolian Girl's High School
Teacher : Meryem Cidal

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Zeynep Tg.
Bursa Anatolian Girls High School

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Corresponding Author

Centre de Bio‐archéologie et d'Ecologie - CNRS UMR 5059, Institut de Botanique (Université Montpellier 2), Montpellier, France

*Jean‐Frédéric Terral, Centre de Bio‐archéologie et d'Ecologie - CNRS UMR 5059, Institut de Botanique (Université Montpellier 2) - 163, rue Auguste Broussonet, F‐34090 Montpellier, France. E‐mail: terral@univ‐montp2.fr Search for more papers by this author

First published:

Abstract

Aim This study intends to improve our understanding of historical biogeography of olive domestication in the Mediterranean Basin, particularly in the north‐western area.

Location Investigations were performed simultaneously on olive stones from extant wild populations, extant cultivated varieties from various Mediterranean countries, and archaeological assemblages of Spanish, French and Italian settlements.

Methods A combination of morphometrics (traditional and geometrical) allowed us to study both the size and shape of endocarp structure. Concerning shape, a size‐standardized method coupled with fitted polynomial regression analysis was performed.

Results We found morphological criteria for discriminating between wild and cultivated olive cultivars, and established patterns of morphological variation of olive material according to the geographical origin (for extant material) and to the age of the olive forms (for archaeological material). Levels of morphological convergences and divergences between wild olive populations and cultivated varieties are presented as evidence.

Main conclusions Morphological changes of endocarps of olive under domestication at both geographical and chronological scales provide new criteria for the identification of olive cultivars. They allow to determine the origins of cultivated forms created and/or introduced in the north‐western Mediterranean regions and to understand how human migrations affected the rest of the Western Mediterranean regions. A model of diffusion of olive cultivation is proposed. It shows evidence of an indigenous origin of the domestication process, which is currently recognized in the north‐western area since the Bronze Age.

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Historical biogeography of olive domestication (Olea europaea L.) as revealed by geometrical morphometry applied to biological and archaeological material

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Corresponding Author Centre de Bio‐archéologie et d'Ecologie - CNRS UMR 5059, Institut de Botanique (Université Montpellier 2), Montpellier, France *Jean‐Frédéric Terral, Centre de Bio‐archéologie et d'Ecologie - CNRS UMR 5059, Institut de Botanique (Université Montpellier 2) - 163, rue Auguste Broussonet, F‐34090 Montpellier, France.

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by Cemre Altın

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The olive ( Olea europaea L.) is a well-known evergreen tree, native to the Mediterranean coast, of which the fruit and oil are used for food and cooking. Olives contain numerous triterpene acids including oleanolic acid (1) as the major one. Recently, much attention has been paid to triterpene acids from the pharmaceutical viewpoint because of their anti-HIV, anti-inflammatory, and antitumor-promoting activities. The wax of the olive fruit contains predominantly oleanolic acid, whereas that of the leaves contains a mixture of oleanolic acid and betulinic acid in a ratio of 7:2. In addition to these triterpene acids, triterpene diols, such as erythrodiol (oleanane type) and uvaol (ursane type) are also present, though in smaller quantities than the corresponding acids. Triterpenes are concentrated mainly in the skin of the fruit. Their content in pomace olive oil, which is an olive residue, is about 10-fold higher than in other types of olive oil. This chapter summarizes the key features of triterpene acids. It describes the induction of cell cultures, production of triterpene metabolites, and cDNA cloning of oxidosqualene cyclases (OSCs) from O. europaea cell cultures.

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Introduction

Olea europaea belongs to the family Oleaceae of the genus Olea, and it is known commonly as the olive tree, bearing the widely consumed and studied olive fruit. The cultivated olive tree can be found distributed across the globe, from Greece and the Levant, southward to Africa and Australia, west into Italy and Spain, and east reaching across to China. The Oleaceae family encompasses 600 different species, and the genus Olea includes approximately 40 taxa of shrubs and trees divided into the subgenera Olea, Paniculatae, and Tetrapilus. The subgenre Olea includes the subspecies Olea europaea and included also within the subgenre is the section ligustroides.

The olive tree is a hardy plant that can survive in a wide range of environments, but it is found prominently distributed in tropical and subtropical areas; the forests of the Mediterranean, the Sahara, and lowland tropical forests are some indications of its habitat (Besnard et al., 2009). The olive tree has adapted its growth to a semi-arid environment including calcareous and sandy, sunny slopes. It is tolerant of hot summers and can be sustained despite limited water supplies (Wahbi et al., 2005).

In this chapter we explore the traditional medicinal properties and early uses of olives and olive oil. Further, we discuss the evolution and health benefits of the Mediterranean diet. In particular, we focus on the cellular and molecular effects of bioactive phenolic compounds in olives and olive oil. Wound healing, cardiovascular effects, and anticancer properties of the major phenolics, hydroxytyrosol and oleuropein, are also considered.

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Olea europaea L. is a rich source of a variety of pentacyclic triterpenoids including oleanolic acid, maslinic acid, erythrodiol and uvaol, which have shown numerous biological effects. They are the most abundant triterpenoids in the unsaponifiable fraction of virgin olive oil. A special source of these triterpenic compounds is pomace olive oil, called "orujo" olive oil in Spain, which is obtained from the waste of olives (which comprises a blend of olive leaves, cuticle and surface) resulting from the mechanical extraction of virgin olive oil. This olive sub-product contains higher concentrations of triterpenic acids and alcohols than virgin olive oil, exceeding values of 120 mg kg-+. In fact, the total amount of the triterpenic alcohols, erythrodiol plus uvaol, is a parameter of purity to detect the presence of pomace olive oil. Oleanolic acid has been identified as the aglycone of numerous triterpenoid saponins in medicinal plants, as an active component in these plants, contributing to the production of several biological and pharmacological effects. There is a growing interest regarding the biopharmaceutical potential of triterpenoids extracted from pomace olive oil and many studies are currently trying to elucidate the mechanisms underlying their biological and pharmacological activities. This chapter focuses on the main functional properties of natural triterpenoids contained in pomace olive oil and the molecular transduction pathways reported to be involved in these activities.

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20.2 Olea Europaea Cultivars and their Differentiation

Olea europaea is a highly variable species with a total of 1250 cultivars dispersed over 54 countries as referred to in the OLEA DATABASE (http://www.oleadb.it/). This large number of olive cultivars is partially explained by the fact that olive plants can survive for a long time, thus retaining their genetic characteristics for thousands of years. Furthermore, open crossing between individuals, environmental pressure and its long history as a crop have resulted in numerous cultivars (Hatzopoulos et al., 2002).

Traditionally, cultivars have been distinguished by their phenotypical characteristics. These include countless traits from the size, weight, shape and color of fruit to the precocity of maturation, the pulp/stone ratio, size of leaves, yield of oil, resistance to disease, etc. (Pinheiro and Silva, 2005). Notwithstanding their major role and usefulness in characterizing cultivars, these markers can be affected by the environment, which may present a problem if they are to be used for identification. With the advent of specific chemical methodologies, the chemical composition of leaves, olives and olive oil began to be used as possible markers. Chemical constituents that have been used for this purpose include tocopherols, sterols, fatty acids (Matos et al., 2007), volatile compounds (Tura et al., 2004) and phenolic compounds (Vinha et al., 2005). Possible correlations between cultivar and biochemical (Briante et al., 2002) and physiological (Bacelar et al., 2007) behavior have also been studied.

In the search for new differentiation methodologies, researchers have over the last two decades begun to use molecular markers in olive characterization. Subsequently practically all the available molecular markers for plants have been applied in olive trees (Owen et al., 2005; Sarri et al., 2006).

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145.2 Pentacyclic Triterpenes from Olea Europaea

Olea europaea has been known for a long time to contain a variety of pentacyclic triterpenes (Vioque and Maza, 1963). These compounds are non-nutritive dietary microconstituents present in the skin of the fruits of Olea europeae and absent either in the mesocarp or in the endocarp of the fruit (Figure 145.1). They protect the integrity of the olive fruit, as they act as insect antifeedants and antimicrobial agents (Vioque and Maza, 1963). The main pentacyclic triterpenes in the skin of olive fruits are maslinic and oleanolic acids (Figure 145.2) whose chemical structure differs from maslinic acid by the lack of the hydroxyl group at the 2-carbon position. Bianchi et al. (1994) characterized the cuticular lipid layer from olives indicating that maslinic acid was the main compound with amounts ranging from approximately 681 ± 63 mg kg −1 depending on the cultivar, followed by oleanolic acid with values of 420 ± 20 mg kg −1.

Given that virgin olive oil is obtained in a process that involves pressing, which may dissolve the surface waxes of the fruit, part of the oleanolic and maslinic acids may be transferred to the oil. However, although the presence of these compounds in olive fruits has been long known (Vioque and Maza, 1963), the data corresponding to olive oil are scarce. The amount of these compounds in the oil is much lower than in the fruit, and depends on the oil quality. Extra virgin olive oil with acidity under 1%, contains 64.2 ± 8.1 mg kg −1 of maslinic acid and 57.2 ± 7.4 mg kg −1 of oleanolic acid, depending on the fruit variety (Perez-Camino and Cert, 1999). The hydrolytic processes that take place in the fruit during extraction facilitate the release of these triterpenes from the skin. Consequently, these values increased to 193.9 ± 14.0 mg kg −1 for maslinic and 244.0 ± 28.1 mg kg −1 for oleanolic acid in virgin olive oil (Perez-Camino and Cert, 1999). Erythrodiol (Figure 145.2), which is an intermediate from which oleanolic acid and its isomer maslinic acid are formed, is present in olive oil in concentrations of around 90 mg kg −1 (Blanch et al., 1998).

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2.2 Origin and Systematics of the Olive

Olive ( Olea europaea L.) is one of the oldest agricultural tree crops and has been an important source of oil since ancient times. Olive belongs to the family Oleaceae, which includes about 30 genera and 600 species (Cronquist, 1981). The genus Olea L. consists of more than 30 species, which are distributed in Europe, Asia, Oceania and Africa, with only Olea europaea L. being cultivated. Two co-existing forms have been described for this species, the wild olive or oleaster ( Olea europaea subsp. europaea var. sylvestris) and the cultivated olive ( Olea europaea subsp. europaea var. europaea). Relatives of the Mediterranean olive tree are clustered in five subspecies: (a) laperrinei, present in Saharan massifs; (b) cuspidata, present from South Africa to southern Egypt and from Arabia to northern India and south-west China; (c) guanchica present in the Canary Islands; (d) maroccana present in south-western Morocco; (e) cerasiformis present in Madeira (Green, 2002).

The cultivated species is a perennial evergreen tree bearing hermaphroditic flowers that show various degrees of self-incompatibility. Asexual vegetative reproduction has been used for several thousand years in cultivar propagation. Olive breeding approaches have been undertaken rarely, due to the long juvenile phase (more than 10 years), and the lack of phylogenetic relationships among Olea species.

Domestication of the olive primarily occurred through vegetative multiplication of selected individuals with allele combinations giving favorable traits, and probably began in the near-east of the Mediterranean basin between 5500 and 5700 years ago (Zohary and Hopf, 1994) although olive use was also reported in Spain during the Neolithic period (Terral and Arnold-Simard, 1996). Due to its allogamous reproduction, a high level of heterozygosity has been maintained in olive, and since ancient times, humans have largely contributed to its dissemination in the Mediterranean region and more recently into new geographic areas (i.e., Australia, North and South America). For this reason, the genetic structure of the olive probably results from several factors related to the occurrence of refugia zones (where olive plants survived during Quaternary glaciations), the bio-geographic conditions of the Mediterranean Basin and human influence (Besnard et al., 2002). There are four main hypotheses on the origin of the Mediterranean olive tree: (1) migration, establishment and evolution from populations of subsp. cuspidata in Tropical Africa or southern Asia; (2) isolation of populations of subsp. laperrinei in the Mediterranean after Quaternary glaciations; (3) hybridization between two taxa (subsp. europaea and cuspidata) co-existing in eastern Mediterranean mountains; (4) divergence from an O. europaea lineage in the Mediterranean.

Molecular data have given new insights about the history and domestication of the olive, suggesting that the cultivated olive most likely originated from a pre-Quaternary Mediterranean ancestor, with no evidence for a recent hybrid origin (Besnard et al., 2006). The actual number of cultivars in the world is estimated at around 1500, and more than 3000 cultivar synonyms have been recorded (Bartolini, 2008). Italy, Spain, France, Tunisia and Greece have the largest numbers with estimated values of 610, 280, 100, 70 and 40, respectively. The high levels of genetic and morphological diversity present today may be due to the continuous process of olive domestication through local hybridization events of cultivated trees with multiple wild Mediterranean genomes (Contento et al., 2002). This hypothesis seems to be compatible with the molecular similarity of wild and cultivated olives within the same country (Besnard et al., 2006). Moreover, Natali et al. (2007) establish that the large olive variability could be related to mutations within retro-elements and/or to insertions/deletions of retro-elements.

Olive has 2n = 2x = 46 chromosomes (Breviglieri and Battaglia, 1954). The nuclear DNA content of olive cultivars in Leccino and Frantoio was determined using cytometric methods by Rugini et al. (1996), resulting in 2.26 and 2.20 pg of DNA per haploid nucleus, respectively. More recently, Loureiro et al. (2007) estimated the genome size of six Portuguese cultivars of olive ( Olea europaea subsp. europaea var. europaea) and wild olive ( Olea europaea subsp. europaea var. sylvestris) by flow cytometry. The nuclear DNA content of Portuguese cultivars ranged between 2.90 ± 0.020 pg/2C and 3.07 ± 0.018 pg/2C, while the nuclear DNA of wild olive was estimated as 3.19 ± 0.047 pg/2C DNA. Based on the flow cytometry data of Louriero et al. (2007) the olive genome size can be estimated as between 2.90 to 3.07 billion base pairs, given that 1 pg of DNA corresponds to approximately 10 ⁹ base pairs (Bennett and Smith, 1976).

Multiple polyploidy in olive tree relatives was recently demonstrated by Besnard et al. (2008) using flow cytometry and highly variable nuclear microsatellites in six olive subspecies. This study showed that four subspecies appear to be diploids, while subsp. cerasiformis is tetraploid and subsp. maroccana hexaploid. Concerning the subspp. europea and cuspidata, SSR data suggest the possibility of a partial polyploidy (Figure 2.1; Rallo et al., 2003) although Besnard et al. (2008) did not confirm this hypothesis.

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The olive ( Olea europaea L.) is a well-known evergreen tree, native to the Mediterranean coast, of which the fruit and oil are used for food and cooking. Olives contain numerous triterpene acids including oleanolic acid (1) as the major one.

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Betül Can Anatolian High School by Mete Demirci my teacher: Simru Pamuk

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Betül Can Anatolian High School by Mete Demirci my teacher: Simru Pamuk

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My research is here.

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The Olive Tree can be considered a symbol of immortality, because even a 500-year-old olive tree is cut back from its roots, it grows again and gives fruit. There are also many religious books and legends that tell the story of the olive tree. Because throughout history people have always searched the olive tree and wanted to know its secret.

In the contemporary world, very few things have attracted attention as much as olive and olive oil. Olive, which dates back to 10 thousand years ago, has been the source of many legends. According to the greek athletes, saints, first physicians , gods and goddesses of the ancient history olive had a sacred meaning. The branches of olives, trees and fruits have been used in various forms throughout history.

The leaves of the olive tree symbolize victory, wisdom, and peace. The pigeon returning to Noah's ship with an olive branch was considered to be a sign that the great flood disaster had ended. In many religions, from the baptism ceremonies to the oil lamps, to the traditional and sacred places, it held an important place in the splendid religious ceremonies in the Mediterranean. In terms of both mythology and daily life, it is not possible to follow the traces of olive in such a geography as far as the Mediterranean. For example, the time of olives in Greece dates back 4000 years.

It was a very important trade material in ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. Special vessels were built in the Mediterranean to trade. The belief that olive oil is a source of youth and power was very common. In ancient Egypt, Greek and Rome, various medicines and cosmetics were obtained by mixing various flowers and herbs with olive oil.

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The Olive Tree can be considered a symbol of immortality, because even a 500-year-old olive tree is cut back from its roots, it grows again and gives fruit. There are also many religious books and legends that tell the story of the olive tree.

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Betül Can anatolian high school by Mete Demirci

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Betül Can anatolian high school by Mete Demirci

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my teacher is Simru Pamuk

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Following Olive Footprints (Olea europaea L.) - Cultivation and Culture, Folklore and History, Tradition and Uses

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This book is a joint publication of the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS), the Association of Agricultural Research Institutions in the Near East and North Africa (AARINENA) and the International Olive Council (IOC) - the 447 page olive compendium has been compiled in nearly two years by 99 authors from 41 countries distributed across the 7 continents of the world.

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İskenderun Demir Çelik Anatolian High School

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The Biological Features of Olive Tree (1)

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ANTHROPOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF THE ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED OLIVE TREES AND THE OLIVE OIL PRODUCTION

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ANTHROPOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF THE ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED OLIVE TREES AND THE OLIVE OIL PRODUCTION

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The olive tree is a tree that is part of the history of mankind, starting in the Mediterranean region and then spreading to all five continents. Its history has been the subject of many stories that have made up the mythology of the tree and its by-products, olives and olive oil. However, these stories refer to a relatively short period in the process of domestication of the olive tree and the beginning of its use as a food source by man.

Its origin is lost in time and the historical and biological evidence goes back millions of years. The genus Olea is represented by several species distributed in Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania. The species Olea europaea, is the one that in the course of time gave rise to what we call the "cultivated olive tree" today (Green and Wickens, 1989; Browicz and Zielinski, 1990).

The wild olive Olea europaea subsp. europaea var. sylvestris (Mill) Lehr ("oleaster") is the ancestor of the cultivated olive tree according to genetic, fossil and sub/fossil evidence dating back millions of years over the southern European continent, North Africa and West Asia (Besnard et al. 2013). These authors propose three possible distribution scenarios spanning from the interglacial period (120-140 thousand years) to current climatic conditions.

Domestication is an example of plant-animal co-evolution that intersects with human evolution. This practice developed during the Neolithic period, between 12 and 15 thousand years ago, consisting of human use of plant and animal species leading to morphological and physiological changes that distinguish domesticated forms from their wild ancestors. It was one of the most important technological innovations in human history (Puruganan et al. 2009).

This process has been long and continuous and has involved numerous genetic exchanges between cultivated and wild trees. There is genetic evidence of its occurrence in the western and eastern Mediterranean basin indicating that wild olive trees were isolated in two distant areas, a pattern congruent with that of many other tree and shrub species. The higher diversity of the eastern Mediterranean basin lineage suggests that wild olive originated in this area (Lavee & Zohary, 2011; Díez et al. 2015; Besnard et al. 2018).

Striking is the phylogeographic structure in populations of the olive fruit fly considered the main pest of cultivated olive, which also shows three lineages with a specific distribution in the Levant (eastern Mediterranean), the Aegean area with continental Italy and the western Mediterranean basin. These geographical subdivisions may thus reflect three main refugia during the Quaternary glaciations that are hypothetically shared with their host.

The cultivated olive Olea europaea subsp. europaea var. europaea L originated from Olea europaea subsp. europaea var. sylvestris (Mill) Lehr by artificial selection from wild populations. Based on wild samples and cultivars from the northern region of the Israeli Levant (area near the Syrian/Turkish border) this area is proposed as the main center of olive domestication, 6,500 years BC ago (Figure 1-a) (Barazani et al. 2016).

In this area, wild olive tree populations grow and can be found in the Mediterranean maquis (overgrown fields) (Figure 1-b) and garrigues (ecosystems resulting from human overgrazing) (Figure 1-c) of the Carmel and western Galilee mountain ranges. Genetic techniques were used to determine the information possessed by these wild populations and abandoned feral forms resulting from hybridization between wild and cultivated trees. Trees from areas distant from cultivated areas that indicated a presumably wild origin were also analyzed. These were then compared with old grafted olive trees and cultivated olive trees from different populations.

Two of the sites could be considered as wild, confirming the presence in Carmel and Galilee (Figure 1-a), of populations genetically similar to the "oleasters" of Turkey and Syria. Based on evidence that most of the old olive trees in the southeastern Mediterranean were maintained by grafting (> 80%), the genetic similarity of the two wild populations and the varlets of the old cultivated olive trees would imply that domesticated olive trees were grafted onto wild trunks.

It can be concluded that some of the plantations analyzed as Olea europaea subsp. europaea var. sylvestris were used in the past as rootstocks. It is more likely that the first domesticated olive gene pool spread with agriculture, first throughout the Levant and Cyprus before spreading throughout the western Mediterranean. Genetic evidence of previously reported multilocal origins of cultivars may be explained by secondary domestication events involving crosses between newly introduced cultivars and local oleasters throughout the Mediterranean.

The dating of these mounds was supplemented by studies of thousands of crushed pits and olive pulp found in pits at the prehistoric settlement of Kfar Samir on the Carmel coast south of Haifa (Israel) (Figure 2)(Galili et al. 1997). Observations at this site, and at another late Neolithic to early Chalcolithic coastal settlement, recorded that olive oil processing technology began along the Carmel coastal plain 6500 years ago, approximately 500 years earlier than previously held. These findings were chronologically dated based on the Carbon 14 dating, allowing them to assure when the beginning of olive oil production occurred along the southern Levantine coast during the seventh millennium BC.

At this site, fragments of epidermis and olive fruit pulp similar to those resulting from the oil production process were found (Figure 3-a), as well as remains of crushed olive pits with sharp edges (Figure 3-b,c), and remains of pollen. All these elements were accompanied by mortars (Figure 4-b), tools, weaving mats (possibly for the separation of solid and liquid phases).

The geographical location of this site, which is 15 km from Carmel, allows us to assume that the remains of processed fruits and pollen came from the olive trees found in that area, described by Barazani et al (2016).

Deposits with whole olive pits were also found (Figure 4-a), which, due to their proximity to salt water sources, could have been used for the processing of olive fruits for food.

These two facts put in context allow us to propose the coast of Israel south of Haifa and west of Carmel as the oldest site showing together olive industrialization (Galili et al. 1997) and domestication of wild olive trees at approximately 6500 years B.C. (Barazani et al. 2016).

Figure 1 (a) Location of olive tree populations (b; Naturally growing olive trees in Galilee in Idmit, "maquis" type; (c) typical "garrigue" formation in Zurit (Barazani et al. 2016).

Figure 2. Submerged prehistoric sites on the Carmel coast studied by Galili et al. 1997.

Figure 3. Materials found at the Kfair Samir site (a) Mixture of crushed olive pits and pulp; (b) Whole olive pits; (c) Crushed olive pits, with sharp edges. (Bar scale = 1 cm) (Galili et al. 1997).

Figure 4.(a) Wooden bowl and (b) Stone basin, used for crushing olives, found at Kfar Samir (Galili et al. 1997).

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ANTHROPOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF THE ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED OLIVE TREES AND THE OLIVE OIL PRODUCTION - JUAN VILAR CONSULTOR ESTRATEGICO

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The olive tree is a tree that is part of the history of mankind, starting in the Mediterranean region and then spreading to all five continents. Its history has been the subject of many stories that have made up the mythology of the tree and its by-products, olives and olive oil.

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By:Dilara A.
Teacher:Özlem Özsoy
İSKENDERUN DEMİRÇELİK ANATOLİAN HİGHSCHOOL

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By:Dilara A.
Teacher:Özlem Özsoy
İSKENDERUN DEMİRÇELİK ANATOLİAN HİGHSCHOOL

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How long can olive trees live?, What country is the largest producer of Olives?, What percentage of olives are used to make olive oil?

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Çiğdem Yıldız
Teacher: Simru Pamuk
Betül Can Anatolian High School

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If the olive tree is left alone, it is a shrub-like plant like Oleander, Hazelnut, and Blackberry. It branches, knots, grows denser, goes longer, becomes bushy as it grows, and grows longer as it grows.

The adult olive tree is genetically medium-sized, its natural canopy is spherical. Olive is a tree of varying stages and has a juvenile stage with leaves clearly different from those in the mature stage.

As a Mediterranean tree suitable for arid, subtropical climate, olive tree adapts very well to extreme environmental conditions such as drought and high temperatures. Although olive trees require aerated soils, they are well adapted to different soil types with a wide distribution and are resistant to low temperatures a few degrees below zero.

There are root systems and trunk structures that show the unique species and characteristics of each tree and a balance between them. This situation is defined as "Physiological Balance". Knowing the physiological characteristics of a tree and growing it in ecological conditions suitable for its characteristics, trying to grow it by subjecting it to care and applications and thus maintaining the physiological balance is the most important element of cultivation.

Plant physiology is important in understanding how the internal balances of the plant are affected by the agricultural practices and application times.

During the agricultural practices, the specific physiological balance of the tree should be taken into account.
Leaves of Olive Tree
Olive leaves have a leaf development with different stages. Juvenile leaves on caries are small, round or slightly elongated, with a high enough chlorophyll content to cause them to have a fleshy and dark green color. The leaves on the strong bottom shoots that emerge from the base of the tree are similar to those seen in the youth stage in terms of their shape. The transition from the leaf type of the youth stage to the mature leaf shape is gradual and there are many intermediate forms in the transition period. The upper part of the leaves has a light green color and the lower part has a more dull silvery color. The tip axis of the leaf is round in some varieties. Leaves usually change every three years.

The average olive leaf is about 5-6 cm long and 1-1.5 cm in the middle. Wide. Although leaf shape, size and characteristics can vary significantly between varieties, the basic characteristics are similar for most varieties. All olive leaves have straight edges and only one short stem. The size of the leaves of many varieties; varies significantly according to the age, strength of the plant and environmental conditions. In addition, a successive change in leaf size is evident on the annual shoot during the growing season.

The upper surface of olive leaves does not form stomata.

The bottom of the upper epidermis is 2-3 layers of palisade cells. These cells contain a large number of chloroplasts that have dense chlorophyll. Olive leaves are very sensitive to light limitation and will fall off under such conditions.

Olive trees carry the leaves of summer and winter, they do not shed. The olive tree, which has a unique root system consisting of independent grains system and a very strong vegetative growth tendency, goes through 2 periods of vegetative development, July - August and post-harvest. In addition, these trees have the ability to renew themselves thanks to the tubers formed in their root systems after they reach a certain size. They are trees with unique characteristics that can grow in different regions with their adaptation to stress conditions with antioxidants such as polyphenols and flavonoids.
Offshoots
They are short, leafy shoots with thin, short and light-colored bark emerging from the trunk, branches and dallets. Although these do not yield much product, they are the nourishing organs of the tree. There is little or no grain in the shoots and shoots shorter than 15 cm and in the ones longer than 50 cm.
Water Sprouts
The shoots rising upright like a cane over branches and twigs are called "water sprouts". These also contain very little grain. Water sprouts are more exploitative parts of the tree than they are productive. However, they are useful for new branch formation.
Root System
In seedlings that are formed from seed or slip, the roots always grow vertically until the 3rd and 4th years of age. Later, with the formation of tubers instead of these roots, a new fringe-like root system is formed.

This root system is located just below the soil surface. Roots continue to grow and spread depending on the age of the olive tree. The distribution of the root system depends on the composition of the soil and especially its aeration.
Blooming
Flowereye initiation, differentiation and development is known to be a relatively short and continuous process, often dependent on the tree's performance history and environmental conditions. Flowering occurs almost only on shoots that developed vegetatively in the previous season. In the spring and summer, the fruit branches form long twigs, forming the next year's product branches. The flowers appear in clusters on two-year-old dallets, their colors are white and it is called "inflorescence" among the people. Each cluster has an average of 5 to 65 flowers. The sepals are green in color.

Olive grain, as November comes, the black flesh in the shell is 2 mm. The olive grain has matured when it forms a layer in the color of cherry rot.

The amount of oil in olives also increases until a certain time. The most suitable harvest time to obtain oil economically is the end of the linear oil increase period. To put it this way, it is the time when the linear increase in the percentage of fat in the pericarp with fresh fruit weight stops and the color of the fruit skin changes. A delay in harvest leads to loss of fruit and a decrease in quality without a significant gain in oil. The decrease in quality may be related to purity and flavor.

There are various reasons for inefficiency or fruitlessness in flowers. Those related to flower rates;

(i) Deformation of the female organ up to 80%;

(ii) Flower powders do not germinate well,

(iii) Inability to form flower powder,

(iv) Conflict.

Olive flower powders are easily spread by the wind. For this reason, sterile varieties can be fertilized with dust from other varieties or other types in the environment, or from wild varieties. Most of the varieties are partially self-fertile and some are self-sterile.

In years of good flowering, 1-2% of the flowers are sufficient to get a good fruit. Olive is an anemophile plant, meaning that its flowers are pollinated by wind. For maximum yield, 1 full flower is sufficient per inflorescence.
Fructification
With the birth of fruit eyes on the tree, the first formation of the fruit begins. Fruit eyes form in the leaves towards the end of summer and spend the winter like that. In the spring of the following year, they become large enough to be visible. Flowering is between the end of April and mid-May and is in the form of a cluster.

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If the olive tree is left alone, it is a shrub-like plant like Oleander, Hazelnut, and Blackberry. It branches, knots, grows denser, goes longer, becomes bushy as it grows, and grows longer as it grows. The adult olive tree is genetically medium-sized, its natural canopy is spherical.

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Researc by Elif H.  School: Betül Can Anatolian High >School  My teacher: Simru Pamuk

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Researc by Elif H.  School: Betül Can Anatolian High >School  My teacher: Simru Pamuk

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200,000 Olive Farms in Spain Could Vanish in Next Decade, Report Finds

According to a new study, more than 320,000 acres of traditional olive groves are abandoned and 1.2 million acres more could be also lost, equal to one-fifth of the total land area of all Spanish olive groves.

Jun. 10, 2019 resource: Oliveoil Times.com

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A study released by multinational firm Deoleo warned that 240,000 small olive oil farms in Spain could vanish over the next 10 years.

The international competition in the olive oil sector, which inevitably leads to more olive oil produced globally, in conjunction with a relative fall in consumption and the stagnation of prices in the country, makes it hard for small Spanish producers to retain their position in the market.

It is possible and necessary to reverse the situation, it takes the commitment of the agents of the sector to maintain a type of olive grove that has an important social, economic and environmental role.- Juan Vilar, author of the study

The study, entitled ​" Salvemos el buen aceite" or ​"Save the good oil," focused on the main olive oil producing territories of Spain - Andalusia, Castilla - La Mancha, València, Aragón and Catalonia - and found that more than 320,000 acres of traditional olive tree farming have already been abandoned in these areas.

The explanation for the decline lies in numbers, with 64 olive oil producing countries in the world today, compared to 46 countries fifteen years ago. A total of 28.7 million acres of land are covered with olive trees, and every second there are, on average, 10 olive trees being planted somewhere on the planet.

See Also: Spanish Olive Oil Production

Furthermore, almost 40 percent of the total quantity of olive oil comes from intensive farming, which yields almost 50 percent more than traditional farming at half the cost.

This expansion of cultivated land and olive oil output creates an imbalance between supply and demand at a global level, with more olive oil being produced than consumed.

While overall global consumption has increased by 6.4 percent during the last nine years, the study stated, a cutback has occurred in mature markets such as Spain, Italy and Greece, where consumers have reduced their intake of olive oil by 16 percent on average translating to 286,000 tons collectively.

Meanwhile, increases in consumption in other markets, such as Germany, France and the United States, have slowed down over the same time period.

In that sense, an estimated surplus in olive oil production of one to two million tons each year will lead to lower prices in most markets, including Spain, where prices today are below all the other producer countries worldwide.

Prices of olive oil demonstrate a negative outlook in the recent weeks in Spain settling at €2.20 ($2.49) per kilogram of extra virgin, with the agricultural organization COAG warning that these prices are already below the profitability threshold.

With the current trend of loss in consumption, the small margin for profit and the expansion of olive tree cultivation worldwide, traditional Spanish olive groves could become unsustainable and lose another 1.2 million acres within a decade, the study concluded, representing 20 percent of all Spanish olive groves.

The loss would affect 240,000 small farmers with 2.5 to 7.5 acres of land, driving them out of existence, the study warned. Almost 300,000 local families who are one way or another associated with the olive oil sector would be impacted.

The need for producers to yield more olive oil in order to stay competitive poses another threat to the traditional Spanish olive oil sector. There is a lot of pressure for these smaller producers to switch to fully mechanized, intensive cultivation methods of high performance but low quality, which are not suitable for small traditional farms with big, irregularly planted olive trees.

The situation mainly affects the native olive varieties of Spain, especially the Picual variety, which falls victim to intensive olive farming. Intensive farms tend to cultivate other varieties, which are selected for their higher output and not for their antioxidant properties and rich organoleptic characteristics, like Picual is.

Even worse, the environmental benefits traditional olive orchards offer, such as preserving the land from desertification and absorbing large amounts of carbon dioxide, are now gone due to the age and size of the trees, since intensive farming mainly uses younger and smaller trees with less foliage and shorter roots.

Juan Vilar, the author of the study and an expert on the olive oil sector of Spain, called for collective action to prevent further damage.

"It is possible and necessary to reverse the situation, it takes the commitment of the agents of the sector to maintain a type of olive grove that has an important social, economic and environmental role, which is typically Spanish and which, due to its uniqueness, provides a huge richness and variety to the offer of olive oil," he said.

Eventually, it comes down to prices of olive oil increasing in the country to prevent the abandonment of traditional olive orchards in the coming years, the study suggested.

In the long run, the transformation of the Spanish olive grove from traditional to modern for better yield in terms of quantity could backfire and apart from the environmental repercussions could lead to the disappearance of Spanish indigenous olive varieties.

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200,000 Olive Farms in Spain Could Vanish in Next Decade, Report Finds

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A study released by multi­na­tional firm Deoleo warned that 240,000 small olive oil farms in Spain could van­ish over the next 10 years. The inter­na­tional com­pe­ti­tion in the olive oil sec­tor, which inevitably leads to more olive oil pro­duced glob­ally, in con­junc­tion with a rel­a­tive fall in con­sump­tion and the stag­na­tion of prices in the coun­try, makes it hard for small Spanish pro­duc­ers to retain their posi­tion in the mar­ket.

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Biological and bioenergy life cycle of the olive grove.  resource: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352484720313299

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Betül Can Anatolian High School research of history of olive tree. By Mete D.

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Betül Can Anatolian High School research of history of olive tree. By Mete D.

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The origin of the olive tree is lost in time, coinciding and mingling with the expansion of the Mediterranean civilisations which for centuries governed the destiny of mankind and left their imprint on Western culture

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Olive leaf fossils have been found in Pliocene deposits at Mongardino in Italy. Fossilised remains have been discovered in strata from the Upper Paleolithic at the Relilai snail hatchery in North Africa, and pieces of wild olive trees and stones have been uncovered in excavations of the Chalcolithic period and the Bronze Age in Spain. The existence of the olive tree therefore dates back to the twelfth millennium BC.

The wild olive tree originated in Asia Minor where it is extremely abundant and grows in thick forests. It appears to have spread from Syria to Greece via Anatolia (De Candolle, 1883) although other hypotheses point to lower Egypt, Nubia, Ethiopia, the Atlas Mountains or certain areas of Europe as its source area. Caruso for that reason believed it to be indigenous to the entire Mediterranean Basin and considers Asia Minor to have been the birthplace of the cultivated olive some six millennia ago. The Assyrians and Babylonians were the only ancient civilisations in the area who were not familiar with the olive tree.

Taking the area that extends from the southern Caucasus to the Iranian plateau and the Mediterranean coasts of Syria and Palestine (Acerbo) to be the original home of the olive tree, its cultivation developed considerably in these last two regions, spreading from there to the island of Cyprus and on towards Anatolia or from the island of Crete towards Egypt.

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The Olive Tree - International Olive Council

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Olive leaf fossils have been found in Pliocene deposits at Mongardino in Italy. Fossilised remains have been discovered in strata from the Upper Paleolithic at the Relilai snail hatchery in North Africa, and pieces of wild olive trees and stones have been uncovered in excavations of the Chalcolithic period and the Bronze Age in Spain.

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Ayşegül Mr.
Bursa Anatolian Girls High School

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Bursa Anatolian Girl High School 
Olive tree at history in Turkey
Olive tree at history in Turkey
Dilara Oy.
Bursa Anatolian Girl's High School 
Teacher : Meryem Cidal 

Boş
Boş
Boş
Olive Tree History in Australia
Olive Tree History in Australia
Zeynep Tg.
Bursa Anatolian Girls High School

Boş
Olive Tree History in Chile
Olive Tree History in Chile
Ayşegül Mr.
Bursa Anatolian Girls High School
Boş

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Kaunas r Garliava Juozas Luksa gymnasium
Boş
Boş
Boş

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SECONDARY SCHOOL IIS A. VOLTA - NICOSIA

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ISKENDERUN DEMIR CELIK ANATOLIAN HIGH SCHOOL
HERMES PETROSANI ECONOMIC COLLEGE, ROMANIA
HERMES PETROSANI ECONOMIC COLLEGE, ROMANIA 
prof Carmen Goia
students: Andreea and Adela
The Biological Features of Olive Tree
The Biological Features of Olive Tree
İskenderun Demir Çelik Anatolian High School
ANTHROPOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF THE ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED OLIVE TREES AND THE OLIVE OIL PRODUCTION
ANTHROPOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF THE ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED OLIVE TREES AND THE OLIVE OIL PRODUCTION
Olive Woods Presentation
Olive Woods Presentation
By:Dilara A.
Teacher:Özlem Özsoy
İSKENDERUN DEMİRÇELİK ANATOLİAN HİGHSCHOOL
Olive Trees Quiz
Olive Trees Quiz
By:Dilara A.
Teacher:Özlem Özsoy
İSKENDERUN DEMİRÇELİK ANATOLİAN HİGHSCHOOL


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Anonymous
Teacher : Özlem Özsoy

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Symbol of peace, wisdom, fertility, prosperity, luck, victory. No fruit bearing tree in our land has been praised, painted, sung, as much as the olive tree. This tree, that loves the sea and the Mediterranean sun, grows even on arid and rocky soils and survives under drought conditions and strong winds. It has accompanied the inhabitants of this land in times of both prosperity, and deprivation and has left its imprint in every aspect of the cultural tradition of the Mediterranean people.

In the Greek tradition, when a child is born, an olive tree is planted. The olive tree and the child will grow up together and when the child will become 6 years old, the olive tree will give its first fruit. It will grow with the family, survive through decades, and will still be there for all the coming generations to always remind us the continuity and the evolution of life.

The expected life of an olive tree is 300 to 600 years, yet there are olive trees more than 1,000 years old. The history of the olive tree began around 7.000 years ago in the Mediterranean region and more precisely in the Eastern Mediterranean. It is speculated that it first appeared in Syria, as indicated by various depictions on vessels and by the multitude of myths of the people around the Mediterranean. It was Greece however, through Phoenician merchants, who brought it in the European Mediterranean area- Italy, France, Spain, Portugal- from where it spread to America and Australia.

Wild olives in Greece were being collected since the Neolithic period already, but the place where the domestic cultivation of the olive tree began, most probably was Crete. Archaeological data and historical findings confirm that during the Minoan period (3000-1000 BC) olive cultivation and olive oil trading was widespread in Crete, which also accounts partly for the economic boom that occurred on the island during this period. In the Palace of Knossos pottery (jars) and cisterns of stone for olive oil storage have been found, while at Phaistos one can see findings of an oil mill of that time.

The ancient Greeks brought olive cultivation to their colonies: Sicily, southern France, the west coast of Spain and the Black Sea coast. They loved and deified the olive tree and attributed a religious and sacrosanct character to its origin, condemning to death anyone who destroyed an olive tree. Messengers would come to conclude peace carrying an olive branch, while the only award for the winners at the Olympic Games was a wreath from an olive branch. Many Greek philosophers studied the medicinal properties of this sacred tree. Dioscorides, Diocles, Anaxagoras, Empedocles, Hippocrates; the Hippocratic code features more than 60 olive treatments.

Realizing the value of the olive oil, the Romans contributed to the spread of the olive tree throughout the territories of their empire. Trade grew even more and Roman ships were carrying large quantities of oil in areas where olive trees were not cultivated, or in areas where there was a lack of olive oil due to low production. It was the period when new olive extraction techniques were developed and great progress was made in the dissemination of the olive-related knowledge.

In Byzantine times the traditional olive cultivation centers were maintained, while the olive groves of the Christian monasteries accounted for a large part of the total production. Olive oil distribution followed the ancient schemes: it was stored in special jars, loaded onto vessels and led to major urban centers or wherever there was an increase of demand. The need for light (illumination of temples, palaces and houses), alongside other uses, created a rising demand, meaning the Empire was continuously deficient in olive oil. It is not surprising therefore that quite often the authorities would prohibit exports, even though the Byzantine Empire was the largest exporter of olive oil worldwide.

In the years of the Ottoman Empire a further rise of olive oil trade occurred and maritime transportation was developed, facilitating the sea routes from the Aegean Sea to Western Europe. In the era of the Ottoman occupation, not only did oil trade reinforce local economies, but also boosted soap production, which in turn created dynamic manufacturing units. In oil producing regions such as Crete, consulates of European countries were gradually settled. In the 18 ° century oil exports supply the European markets not only with an edible product, but also with the raw material for the production of soap. This marks the establishment of ABEA by the French chemist July Deis in the late nineteenth century in Nea Hora, with a goal of exporting pomace in Marseille, the most powerful industrial center soap of that era.

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Symbol of peace, wisdom, fertility, prosperity, luck, victory. No fruit bearing tree in our land has been praised, painted, sung, as much as the olive tree. This tree, that loves the sea and the Mediterranean sun, grows even on arid and rocky soils and survives under drought conditions and strong winds.

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9 Amazing Attributes of Olive Trees that will Humble and Inspire you.

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9 Amazing Attributes of Olive Trees that will Humble and Inspire you.

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by Ceren U.
Teacher: Özlem ÖZsoy

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We love the delicious flavor and appreciate the many health benefits of olives. The majestic and beautiful trees that grow the hard, bitter fruit that become fermented olives have so many positive attributes:

1. LONGEVITY - Olive trees can live for thousands of years. There are many trees in the Mediterranean region that are scientifically verified to be as old as 2,000 years.

2. PROLIFIC - The olive tree starts bearing fruit at around 5 years of age. A tree in Croatia that is radiocarbon-dated to be 1,600 years old still produces abundant fruit today.

3. INDESTRUCTIBLE - The root system of the olive tree is so robust that it's capable of regenerating itself even when the above-ground structure of the tree is destroyed by frost, fire or disease. In Tuscany in 1985 a severe frost destroyed many productive and aged olive trees, ruining the livelihoods of many farmers. However when new shoots appeared in the spring and the dead wood was removed, they soon became new fruit-producing trees.

4. UNPARCHABLE - Olive trees are drought friendly' and just like eucalyptus trees do not need to be watered.

5. GENEROUS - Large olive trees produce on average about 400 pounds of olives annually. Older and larger trees can produce more. It's estimated that there are about 865 million olive trees in the world today.

6. ANCIENT - The edible olive has been cultivated for at least 6,000 years. Lore has it that olives fell from trees into salt water on the banks of the Mediterranean where they and were discovered and eaten.

8. SACRED - Olive oil has long been considered sacred. The olive branch was often a symbol of abundance, glory and peace. The leafy branches of the olive tree were ritually offered to deities and powerful figures as emblems of benediction and purification, and they were used to crown the victors of both games and wars. Olive oil is still used today in many religious ceremonies. Over history, the olive has been the symbol of peace, wisdom, glory, fertility, power and purity.

9. HEALTHY - Olives are incredibly healthy fruit (yes, fruit-they are a distant cousin of the peach) containing antioxidants, healthy fats and fiber.

Olives are harvested from trees and must be vinegar or salt water brined, dry cured with oil or fermented before they can be edible.

Whether brined, cured or fermented olives are not only delicious but also fun to eat. Read about the numerous health benefits of olives by reading 10 Benefits of Eating Healthy Olives.

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9 Amazing Attributes of Olive Trees that will Humble and Inspire You

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We love the delicious flavor and appreciate the many health benefits of olives. The majestic and beautiful trees that grow the hard, bitter fruit that become fermented olives have so many positive attributes: 1. LONGEVITY - Olive trees can live for thousands of years.

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Anonymous

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Zeytinin Tarihi

Doğanın Döngüsünün, Yaşamın ve Sonsuzluğunun Simgesi

Yaşam ağacı, ölmez ağaç, barış ağacı gibi güzel sıfatlarla anılan zeytin ağacı, 40.000 yıl öncesine dayanan, efsanelere konu olan kutsal bir ağaçtır.

Zeytin ağacının hikâyesi rivayetlere konu olmuştur. Bir rivayete göre Nuh Peygamber'e dayanır. Tufanla cezalandırılan insanlık, dünyada hayatın normale dönüp dönmediğini anlamak için yeryüzüne beyaz bir güvercin gönderirler. Güvercin ağzında zeytin yüklü bir zeytin dalı ile geri döner. Böylece insanlar arasında barış sağlandığına inanırlar. O günden bugüne güvercin ve zeytin dalı barışın simgesi olarak kabul edilmiştir.

Antik Yunan'dan Mısırlılara, Romalılara kadar tarihin her aşamasında zeytin ağacından ve zeytinyağının faydalarından bahsedilmektedir.

Antik Yunan'da mitolojik tanrıça Athena aynı zamanda zeytin ağacının koruyucusu olarak bilinmektedir. Yunan mitolojisindeki efsaneye göre Zeus kendisine en değerli hediyeyi verecek olana kentin koruyuculuğunu verecektir. Açılan yarışmada tanrı Poseidon, Zeus'a savaşta yenilmeyecek bir at armağan eder. Tanrıça Athena'da zeytin ağacı hediye eder. Zeus, bu hediyelerin içinde zeytin ağacı karşısında büyülenir. Athena ile aralarında çekişme olan Poseidon bile bu ağaçtan büyülenmiştir. Bunun üzerine Athena zeytin ağacından bir dal kırıp Poseidon'a verir. Böylece aralarında barış sağlanmış olur.

Antik Yunan'da zeytin ağacına verilen önem kanunlarla vurgulanmıştır. Büyük bilge kabul edilen Atinalı devlet adamı Solon'un kanunlarına göre zeytin ağacını kesenler ölüm cezasına çarptırılıyordu.

Eski Yunan ve Roma uygarlıklarında kutsal bir aileden gelmenin işaret zeytin ağacı altında doğmuş olmaktır. Çünkü tanrı Zeus'un çocukları Artemis ve Apollon zeytinlikte doğmuştur. Ayrıca bu dönemde ölülerin sayısı kadar zeytin ağacı dikildiği de bilinmektedir.

Mısır mitolojisine göre tanrıça İsis, Mısırlılara zeytin ağacının nasıl yetiştirileceği ve ondan nasıl faydalanılacağını öğretir. M.Ö 8. Yüzyılda yaşayan Homeros, destanlarında zeytin ve zeytin ağacından bahseder. Homeros'un gölgesinde oturduğu zeytin ağacı, yaşlı bilgenin kulağına şöyle der:

"Herkese aitim ve kimseye ait değilim. Siz gelmeden önce de buradaydım, siz gittikten sonra da burada olacağım"

Antik çağda yapılan savaşlarda ve olimpiyatlarda başarı gösterenler zeytin dalından örülmüş çelenkler ile ödüllendirilirdi. Ayrıca bu kişilere içi zeytinyağı dolu amforalar hediye edilirdi.

Ayrıca antik çağda zeytinyağının kullanım alanlarından birisi de tıptır. Pergamonlu Galenos, zeytinyağının mideyi güçlendiren, iştah açan bir gıda olduğunu vurgulamıştır. Yine antik dönemde zeytinyağı merhem gibi ilaçların hazırlanmasında kullanılmış, ayrıca yara ve yanık tedavilerinde de uygulanmıştır.

Kuran-ı Kerim'de zeytin kelimesi 4 surede 6 defa geçer (Tin Suresi, Nur Suresi, En'am Suresi, Nahl Suresi). Tin Suresi "İncire ve Zeytine and olsun" diye başlar. İbranice "zeyt" sözcüğü, Arapçada "ez-zeyt" e dönüşmüş, bu söz de Türkçede zeytin olarak kullanılmıştır.

İLK ZEYTİN YETİŞTİRİCİLİĞİ

Kökü tarih öncesine dayanan zeytin ağacının anayurdunun neresi olduğu tam bilinmemekle beraber ilk anayurdunun Mezopotamya, Güneydoğu Anadolu tahmin edilmekte, oradan da Akdeniz'e, Ege Adalarına ve Yunanistan'a yayıldığı tahmin edilmektedir.

Yeryüzünde yetişen ilk ağaç zeytin ağacıdır. Dört mevsim gelir geçer ama dallarında gri, yeşil yaprakları dökülmeden durur. Akdeniz'i ve Ege'yi sever. Kendine özgü kokusu, sarı ve beyaz çiçekleriyle baharı karşılar. Yaz aylarında çiçekler meyveye dönüşmeye başlar. Daha sonra meyveler olgunlaşır. Zeytin ağacının hasadı, kararmanın kabuktan meyve etine geçtiği Kasım aylarında yapılır. Verimli bir ömrün sonunda boşalan gövdesi kurur. Daha sonra köklerinden yeşeren sürgünler yeniden yeni bir ağaca dönüşür.

Boyu 2-10 metre arasında değişen zeytin ağacı genellikle 300-400 yıl gibi uzun ömürlü bir bitkidir. Zeytin ağacının 2000 yıl yaşayanları olması, kuraklıktan etkilenmeyen bir bitki olmasındandır.

Kutsal kitapların hepsinde zeytin ağacı adaletin, sağlığın, bereketin, zaferin, bilgeliğin, bolluğun sembolü olarak kabul edilmiştir. İbranice yazılan ilk İncil kitabı olan Hakimler kitabında anlatılan bir öyküye göre, ağaçlar kendi aralarında kral seçmek için zeytin ağacına giderler. Kral olması istenen zeytin ağacı, zeytinyağından vazgeçemez ve kral olmayı reddeder.

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DS Trading Toptan iç ve dış Ticaret - Gıda LTD. ŞTİ. HATAY / TURKEY

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Zeytinin Tarihi Doğanın Döngüsünün, Yaşamın ve Sonsuzluğunun Simgesi Yaşam ağacı, ölmez ağaç, barış ağacı gibi güzel sıfatlarla anılan zeytin ağacı, 40.000 yıl öncesine dayanan, efsanelere konu olan kutsal bir ağaçtır. Zeytin ağacının hikâyesi rivayetlere konu olmuştur. Bir rivayete göre Nuh Peygamber'e dayanır. Tufanla cezalandırılan insanlık, dünyada hayatın normale dönüp dönmediğini anlamak için yeryüzüne beyaz bir güvercin gönderirler.

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HERMES PETROSANI ECONOMIC COLLEGE, ROMANIA 

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HERMES PETROSANI ECONOMIC COLLEGE, ROMANIA 

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prof Carmen Goia
students: Andreea and Adela

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HERMES PETROSANI ECONOMIC COLLEGE, ROMANIA 

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HERMES PETROSANI ECONOMIC COLLEGE, ROMANIA 

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Teacher Carmen Goia
students: Andreea and Adela

The olive tree is a biblical tree, and its branches a symbol of victory, wisdom and peace. But beyond these meanings, the olive is extremely decorative in its foliage and fruit. But if you want fruit, you should know that there are two types of olives: those that make fruit and those that are used only for decorative foliage. One of the varieties that bears fruit and grows extremely beautifully in pots is "Arbequina".

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HERMES PETROSANI ECONOMIC COLLEGE, ROMANIA

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HERMES PETROSANI ECONOMIC COLLEGE, ROMANIA

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Teacher  Carmen Goia
students: Andreea and Adela