The Egyptian olive (Olea europaeasubsp.europaea) in the later first millennium BC: origins and history using the morphometric analysis of olive stones

Abstract

The authors examine a sample of olive stones from Egyptian contexts and show that from the first millennium BC, if not before, some of them relate to cultivars originating from the Levant. But equally prominent and just as early is another variety, of unknown origin and currently peculiar to Egypt. The method used is geometrical morphometric analysis – essentially classifying the olive stones by their shape.