Minoan ideogram symbolizing the olive tree.
For thousands of years, the inhabitants of Greece have cultivated the olive tree and used its products for religious, magical, medicinal and culinary purposes. Thus, it is not surprising that the olive tree is the embodiment of the Greek countryside.
During last year, scientists, environmentalists, cultural associations and the Technical University of Crete are trying to locate, catalogue and save hundreds of olive trees, some of them over than 1,000 years old, on the island of Crete. (It is well known that Crete has been a huge olive producer and exporter of olive oil since the Minoan times.) The aim of the associations and scientists is to save the historical trees from abandonment, to make a map of them and a documentary of the Cretan historical olive grove.