Presented in person and online, Zoom details below.

Olive (Olea europaea ssp. europaea L.) is a cornerstone of Mediterranean cultural and ecological history, yet the timing and nature of its earliest exploitation and domestication continue to be debated. These questions are further complicated by the difficulty of defining domestication in long‑lived perennial crops, where biological, cultural, and ecological processes unfold over millennia. The research discussed in this seminar contributes to this ongoing discussion through analysis of plant macrofossils—fruit remains and wood charcoal—from the 8,500‑year occupation sequence at Pella, Jordan, supported by a robust radiocarbon dating program.

By tracing long‑term patterns of olive use and management at Pella, the study reconstructs the trajectory of human engagement with the species from the Early Pottery Neolithic, ca. 6200BCE to the Middle Bronze Age, ca.1600BCE. The talk will explore how the results from the study highlight the gradual intensification of olive exploitation and what this means for recognising domestication in perennial taxa. In doing so, it offers new insights into the early history of olive cultivation in the southern Levant and its role in shaping the Mediterranean landscape.

Speaker bio:
Anne Dighton is an archaeologist specialising in the relationship between ancient societies, their food systems, and the environmental impacts of those interactions. Her research focuses primarily on the Mediterranean, with particular emphasis on the southern Levant. She recently completed her PhD at The University of Queensland, where she analysed seeds, fruits, and wood charcoal from the archaeological site of Pella in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Her doctoral work traced the domestication trajectory of the olive and examined how its cultivation shaped the local environment from the Neolithic period through to the Bronze Age.  Anne is the archaeobotanist for both the Pella Project and the Nuraghe Sa Conca 'e sa Cresia project in Sardinia. Beyond Jordan and Sardinia, she has also worked  in Australia, Saudi Arabia, at multiple archaeological sites across Turkey and at Pompeii.

Zoom details :https://anu.zoom.us/j/83676628890?pwd=A1IBLli8x0yuaR4ZA1hZOvSzWWFbNC.1
Meeting ID: 836 7662 8890
Password: 529408