Advances in biocultural geography of olive tree (Olea europaea L.) landscapes by merging biological and historical assays

Giuseppe Russo,Vitale Stanzione,Marina Bufacchi,Marco Ciolfi,Andrea Pisanelli,Isacco Beritognolo,Marco Lauteri,Stephen B Brush

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-64063-8

Abstract

Olive tree is a vector of cultural heritage in Mediterranean. This study explored the biocultural geography of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) from the cultivar Ogliarola campana in Campania region, Italy. Here, the rich cultural elements related to olive tree and oil represent a suitable case study for a biocultural analysis. We joined analytical techniques, based on stable isotopes and trace elements of EVOOs, with humanistic analyses, based on toponymy and historical data. In order to provide a science-based assessment of the terroir concept, we set up a new method of data analysis that inputs heterogeneous data from analytical and anthropic variables and outputs an original global evaluation score, named terroir score, as a measure of biocultural distinctiveness of the production areas. The analysis highlighted two distinct cultural sub-regions in the production area of Ogliarola campana: a continental cluster in the inner area of Irpinia and a coastal one around Salerno province. Finally, a biocultural map displays the diversity of heterogeneous variables and may support science-based decision making for territory valorisation. This novel biocultural analysis is a promising approach to substantiate the terroir concept with science-based elements and appears suitable to characterize local agri-food products with old tradition and historical data.

Highlights

The Mediterranean olive landscape integrates biological and cultural elements dating back several millennia[1]
We focused the study on the mono-varietal extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) obtained from the olive cultivar Ogliarola campana, which provides about 35% of the regional production of olives and is well-represented in four out of five EVOO Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) of Campania region: Irpinia-Colline dell’Ufita, Penisola Sorrentina, Colline Salernitane and Cilento (Fig. 1)[22]
We characterized the biocultural identity of the Ogliarola campana mono-varietal EVOO in four production areas of Campania region

Summary

Introduction

The Mediterranean olive landscape integrates biological and cultural elements dating back several millennia[1]. The local toponyms with archaic origin reveal a background related to the late Latin or to the vernacular of the Early Middle Ages[25,26], when the monasticism promoted the development of olive oil production in Campania This rich geographic and historical information could aid in dissecting and interpreting the present biocultural diversity of EVOO landscape. The study aims to: 1) characterize the EVOO production landscape by defining its biocultural diversity through a combination of chemical (stable isotopes and trace elements) and cultural-historical analyses (ancient documents and toponyms); 2) develop an original score evaluation methodology and a new index to measure the biocultural diversity of small EVOO production areas; 3) substantiate the terroir value and distinctiveness of EVOO areas in Campania region

Methods

Results

Conclusion