On this day(ish) in Portuguese history, 3+ millennia ago?!

Approximately 3,350 years ago, around 1324 BC, an olive stone is thought to have sprouted its roots, becoming what we know and celebrate today as the 'Olive Tree of Mouchão' (Oliveira do Mouchão), located in Mouriscas (Abrantes).

When this tree was a sapling, Pharaoh Tutankhamun (King Tut) was likely nearing the end of his short reign in Thebes, Egypt and the Roman Empire wouldn't be founded for another 500+ years.

At the time, Portugal was in the heart of the Middle-to-Late Bronze Age, when 'Southwest Bronze Age' peoples lived in fortified hilltop settlements (Castros) and were master metalworkers, creating intricate bronze tools and jewellery.

The Oliveira do Mouchão has survived for over three millennia, but what is its current 'physical' status, today?

A) It is a petrified fossil

B) It is hollow and used as a small chapel

C) It still produces olives every year

D) It now lives in a museum in Lisbon

6 votes

2 comments