Flax is one of the oldest cultures known to men, grown for its fiber (textile) and oil. In 2009, fragments of flax fibers dating from 36,000 BC, having been twisted and containing pigments, were found in Georgia. Flax seeds were already eaten during the Neolithic period. The plant then developed in the Nile Valley under the Pharaohs and was particularly used for funeral rites. The Phoenicians organized the first flax trade in Europe and introduced it to Greece, Rome, England, and Spain. King Charlemagne, for his part, imposed flax weaving on every household in the 8th century.