prioritized wine
Bronze Age farmers often prioritized wine over olives
Both fruits have been a staple of agriculture for 10,000 years. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Grapes and olives have remained two of the most consistently documented crops since the Middle Eastern dawn of agriculture around 10,000 years ago. But when times got hard across the Levant and northern Mesopotamia, early farmers often went to great lengths to maintain one of these fruity staples compared to the other. According to a study published on September 17 in the journal, cultures consistently ensured that their wine continued to flow, even when the olive oil didn't.