Shipping olives in the Eastern Mediterranean during Antiquity: Assessing varietal diversity of olive (Olea europaea) from the Mazotos shipwreck (Cyprus, 4th c. BCE) using geometric morphometrics

A shipwreck dated to the 4th c. BCE discovered off the southern coast of Cyprus, near the modern village of Mazotos, has yielded thousands of waterlogged olive endocarps, offering us the opportunity to characterize the varietal diversity of olives cultivated in the Aegean and to explore the circulation of olives in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Classical period. The ship was likely on a route from the Aegean to the Eastern Mediterranean, carrying a cargo of Chian amphorae. Among these amphorae, some contained olive endocarps, providing valuable evidence of the transportation of agricultural products and the interconnected networks of the Classical period. This case study is not only a rare example of ship dated to the classical period, but also a unique opportunity to investigate a large assemblage of waterlogged whole, well preserved, olive endocarps using geometric morphometrics, to characterize the food products circulating by sea route. Comparison with an extended modern reference collection of 57 cultivated varieties and 15 wild populations of olive from various origins revealed that one main morphotype dominates the cargo of the Mazotos shipwreck, supplemented by other types in smaller quantities.