Crop plants are one of our greatest heritage from prehistory. We are still learning how, where, and when their domestication started. Often, we find significant distance between wild and domestic plants, making their origins obscure.

Information on the ancient origins of fruit culture comes from archaeological remains of fruit. We also know about it from pictures, and writing left by our ancestors, in the form of rich art that uses fruit as a common motif.

Anthropologists estimate fruit domestication began around the Mediterranean sea between 6,000 and 3,000 BC. These fruits included dates, olives, grapes, figs and pomegranate. Fruits such as bananas, apples, pears, cherries and peaches were domesticated in Central and East Asia. Other fruits didn’t become domesticated until the 19th and 20th centuries, these include blueberries, blackberries, and kiwis. Some well-known fruits, although extensively collected, have not yet been domesticated. (1)

Fruit culture bonds humans to particular areas of land, and may be a link associated with the concept of territoriality, the development of towns, cities, states, and eventually, nationhood. In the case of dates and olives, fruit orchards can remain productive for over a century.

Modern fruit cultivation often involves complicated systems and technology. The process often includes crafting, continuous irrigation in dry climates, pruning and training, pollination, harvesting, storage, and processing. Recent developments in fruit growing practices include the use of dwarfing root-stocks, growth regulators, disease and pest control, long-term storage, protected cultivation, and biotechnology. (2) Note that each specie has its own unique “craft secrets”. Fruit production tends to require year-round activity, from preparation to harvest.

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Sources:

(1) https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/origins%20of%20fruits.pdf

(2) https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/origins%20of%20fruits.pdf