JERUSALEM, ISRAEL—Traces of olive oil have been detected on 8,000-year-old pot sherds unearthed at the site of Ein Zippori, located in the Lower Galilee. “Although it is impossible to say for sure, this might be an olive species that was domesticated and joined grain and legumes—the other kinds of field crops that we know were grown then. Those crops are known from at least 2,000 years prior to the settlement at Ein Zippori. With the adoption of olive oil the basic Mediterranean diet was complete,” Ianir Milevski and Nimrod Getzov of the Israel Antiquities Authority said in a statement reported by The Times of Israel. The well-preserved oil closely resembles modern olive oil. Evidence of olive oil production has been found at the 7,700-year-old site of Kfar Samir, now underwater off the coast of Haifa. To read about another recent Neolithic discovery in Israel, see "7,500-Year-Old Well Discovered."
