so depending on the source, soap is either 3000 years old or way less. I’d say it goes back no more than 2000 years, but whatever, a thousand years is nothing to quibble about. Olive oil goes back 7000 years minimum. Pigs go back a thousand or two or three less than olive oil does.
There goes your caveman soap idea. BTW, soap is made from vegetable oils too...not just animal oils. I don’t know where you got the idea prehistoric cave man ran around doing laundry and such. They hadn’t even invented anything yet that needed to be washed. What would they do with soap?
Dunno.
Wash little cave-brats mouth out if they grunted something dirty, I guess.
Truthfully, I have trouble with the 7000 year figure for olive oil, although I admit it is quite old. But no matter, it is a result of the development of agriculture as an industry. The only way to get enough olives to make it worthwhile pressing them for oil is if you are growing them in a planned, controlled setting.
And I think you have to admit that hunting as an organized activity goes back way, way, way before that. As any member of a hunting clan would tell you, they use EVERYTHING.
No doubt in my mind that animal fats/lards were in use way before olive oil.
But we can agree to disagree!
regards,
djf
Olives don’t grow all over the earth, but animals do..I think animal fats were probably used first, nomads didn’t encounter olive trees unless they were in that part of the world where they grow..