Neolithic woodland in the north Mediterranean basin: A review on Olea europaea L.

The aim of this paper is to specify the natural distribution of Olea europaea L. during the Early Holocene in the Northern Mediterranean by means of the identification of wood charcoal remains of this species at prehistoric sites. For this purpose, we have reviewed the relevant literature and extracted the data in which Olea charcoal has been identified. We have taken into consideration the biogeographical and chrono-cultural contexts in which the species is present, its frequency of occurrence at different locations and the associated plant taxa with the aim of tracking the Holocene history of the oleaster. Based on this information we suggest that the species started expanding during the Preboreal from Pleistocene thermophilous tree refugia located in the Levant, Cyprus, Sicily and the southern parts of the Iberian Peninsula. Its presence was confined to the thermomediterraenan bioclimatic level. The expansion dynamics of Olea after the Boreal are better understood in the western Mediterranean. There the species becomes very abundant or dominant in the thermophilous plant formations of the Atlantic period and expands to favorable enclaves outside the limits of the thermomediterraenan bioclimatic level.

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