Humans have been using olive oil for about 8,000 years, so archeologists often report olive oil residue on excavated pottery. For decades, archeologists may have misidentified olive oil in Mediterranean ceramics, possibly missing other plant oils or mistaking olive oil for animal fat. However, many older claims about finding olive oil at ancient sites have not been revisited as technology has improved, so some of the pots and pans dug up years ago may not have olive oil on them at all. Instead, Cyprus’ soil samples were brought to her at the Cornell Soil Health Lab. Thilo Rehren at the Cyprus Institute collected the Cyprus soil samples and sent them to Upstate New York.