Ancient Cypriots fed olive oil to furnaces-study

Reuters via Yahoo! ^ | March 8 2006 | Michele Kambas

[SunkenCiv]

long before olive oil made it into the Mediterranean diet Cypriots used it as fuel to melt copper, archaeologists say. Italian researchers have discovered that environmentally friendly olive oil was used in furnaces at a site in southern Cyprus up to 4,000 years ago, instead of the fume-belching charcoal used in industry for hundreds of years since... Cyprus was famed in antiquity for its copper and is believed to have given its name to the Latin term for the metal, Cuprum... "It is the first time this has been discovered ... and in Europe it's only recently that industry has turned to biofuels. This oil burns like benzene," Belgiorno said... Average annual production of about 13,500 tones just about meets local demand and olive oil now sells for around $6 per liter, compared to around 55 cents for regular fuel... The smelting site known as Pyrgos Mavroraki is thought to be part of a larger industrial unit dating from 2,000 BC, when Cyprus was in its early to mid bronze age.

[SunkenCiv]

Triple-bag barf alert for the "sustainable economy" bullfeces in the article, but still interesting (of course, the conclusions are suspect anyway).

---

Google · Archaeologica · Mirabilis · ArchaeoBlog · Texas AM Anthropology News
Archaeology magazine · Biblical Archaeology Society · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo
History Podcasts · Science & Nature Podcasts · Excerpt, or Link only? · post a topic

---

[SunkenCiv]

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Should work great, if you drip it on a hot rock to vaporize it, and add enough air. I'd like to see some pictures of what is left.