Olive growing in Puglia (southeastern Italy): a review of the evidence from the Mesolithic to the Middle Ages

Caracuta, Valentina

doi:10.1007/s00334-019-00765-y

Cited by 19 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…The olive tree can be considered the most symbolic tree of civilization and a part of the anthropized Mediterranean landscape [1]. Exploited at least since the Mesolithic [2] and cultivated for the production of oil at least since the Bronze Age in Sicily [3,4], it has a wide distribution in all countries bordering the Mediterranean, with around 800 million individuals [5,6]. Evidence of mythology, history, and literature attest to the great importance of the olive tree and its oil in the trade, food, and customs of Mediterranean populations, starting with the olive tree as the protector tree of the city just founded by Athena and mentioned among the most precious trees by numerous Jewish, Greek, and Roman sources [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Monumental Olive Trees as Biocultural Heritage of Mediterranean Landscapes: The Case Study of Sicily

et al. 2021

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Monumental olive trees, with their longevity and their remarkable size, represent an important information source for the comprehension of the territory where they grow and the human societies that have kept them through time. Across the centuries, olive trees are the only cultivated plants that tell the story of Mediterranean landscapes. The same as stone monuments, these green monuments represent a real Mediterranean natural and cultural heritage. The aim of this paper is to discuss the value of monumental trees as “biocultural heritage” elements and the role they play in the interpretation of the historical stratification of the landscape. We present the results of a survey of the most significant olive trees growing in Sicily. The selection was based on the “monumentality” aspects of trees, taking into account dendrometric parameters and environmental contexts. The collected dataset constitutes a heterogeneous sample of 367 specimens of considerable size that, in some cases, reach a circumference of about 19 m. Starting from the data presented here, the whole Sicilian territory shows a historical relationship between human and olive. The presence of these plant monuments is, therefore, evidence of long-term, often centennial, landscapes as a result of sustainable use of the territory.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Monumental Olive Trees as Biocultural Heritage of Mediterranean Landscapes: The Case Study of Sicily

et al. 2021

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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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“…EVOO samples used in this work are from Tuscany and from Apulia (Italy), two regions with an old tradition in the cultivation of Olea Europaea olive trees [53,54]. Tuscany adopts a still diffuse traditional cultivation, with typical cultivars Leccino, Frantoio, Pendolino and Moraiolo.…”

Section: Reagents and Samplesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Tuscany adopts a still diffuse traditional cultivation, with typical cultivars Leccino, Frantoio, Pendolino and Moraiolo. Apulia region produces about 32% of all the olive groves in Italy, and it is the leading region for EVOO production in Italy [54]. EVOO samples selected for this study were produced, from different cultivars, in 2016 and in 2017.…”

Section: Reagents and Samplesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The differences among the four fresh EVOO samples may be explained in terms of initial concentrations (at time t = 0) of the two pigments, which may be related to the olive cultivars and maturation index at harvesting time [52][53][54][55][56][57][58]. The fact the kinetic model developed for chlorophylls' derivatives degradation under different storage conditions [26] well fits with our data is a further confirmation of the goodness of the spectroscopic deconvolution method to study fresh EVOO samples.…”

Section: Sample a Sample C Sample D Sample Ementioning

confidence: 99%

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Study of the Evolution of Pigments from Freshly Pressed to ‘On-the-Shelf’ Extra-Virgin Olive Oils by Means of Near-UV Visible Spectroscopy

Borello

Roncucci

Domenici

2021

Foods

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Spectroscopic non-destructive methods have high potentialities as fast, cheap and easy-to-be-used approaches to address olive oil quality and authenticity. Based on previous research where near-UV Visible spectroscopy was used to investigate extra-virgin olive oils (EVOOs) and their main pigments’ content (i.e., β-carotene, lutein, pheophytin a and pheophytin b), we have implemented the spectral deconvolution method in order to follow the EVOO’s life, from ‘freshly pressed’ to ‘on-the-shelf’ EVOO samples at different storage time. In the first part of the manuscript, the new implemented deconvolution spectroscopic method aimed to quantify two additional pigments, namely chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b, is described and tested on ‘ad hoc’ samples with known concentrations of chlorophylls. The effect of light exposure and acidification was investigated to test the reliability and robustness of the spectral deconvolution. In the second part of the work, this approach was used to study the kinetic of pigments’ degradation in several monocultivar fresh EVOO samples under optimal storage’s conditions. The results here reported show that this spectroscopic deconvolution approach is a good method to study fresh EVOOs too; moreover, the proposed method revealed to be sensitive to detect eventual stresses of olive oil samples stored in not-good conditions.

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Olive growing in Puglia (southeastern Italy): a review of the evidence from the Mesolithic to the Middle Ages

Cited by 19 publications

References 69 publications

The Monumental Olive Trees as Biocultural Heritage of Mediterranean Landscapes: The Case Study of Sicily

The Monumental Olive Trees as Biocultural Heritage of Mediterranean Landscapes: The Case Study of Sicily

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

Study of the Evolution of Pigments from Freshly Pressed to ‘On-the-Shelf’ Extra-Virgin Olive Oils by Means of Near-UV Visible Spectroscopy

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