Figs 

Believed to Be First Cultivated Fruit
By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD JUNE 1, 2006

In the ruins of a prehistoric village near Jericho, in the West Bank, scientists have found remains of figs
that they say appear to be the earliest known cultivated fruit crop — perhaps the first evidence
anywhere of domesticated food production at the dawn of agriculture. The figs were grown some
11,400 years ago.

Presumably that was well after Adam and Eve tried on the new look in fig leaves while tempting fate, in
which case the fleshy fruit must have grown wild in Eden.

Two botanists and an archaeologist, who describe the discovery in Friday's issue of the journal Science,
said the figs from a site in the Jordan River Valley, known as Gilgal I, came from cultivated trees that
grew about 1,000 years before such staples as wheat, barley and chick peas were widely domesticated
in the Middle East. These first grain and legume crops had previously been considered the first steps in
agriculture.

The researchers uncovered nine small figs in the ruins of a burned building. The figs may have been
dried for storage. The fire left them charred, which preserved the fruit in a condition for detailed
analysis.

A comparison with modern wild and domesticated varieties , the scientists said, led them to conclude
that the ancient figs had undergone a mutation in the wild that produced a sweet fruit but no fertile
seeds.

Because these were reproductive dead-end trees, the botanists reasoned, they could have been
propagated only by people planting shoots of the variant strain again and again. A piece of stem stuck
in the ground will sprout roots and grow into a tree, which could explain why figs were domesticated
much earlier than grape, olive and other fruit plants.

The archaeobotanists who conducted the study were Mordechai Kislev and Anat Hartman of Bar-Ilan
University in Israel. Their co-author of the journal report was Ofer Bar-Yosef, an archaeologist at the
Peabody Museum of Harvard.

In an interview by telephone from Israel, Dr. Bar-Yosef said he was "confident about the identification
of the figs as being of a domesticated variety" and that they were probably the earliest known
domesticated crop. The cultivation technique, he said, seemed to be well advanced by the time of the
discovered figs, clearly indicating that people had been intervening in nature for several centuries.

"In this intentional act of planting a specific variant of fig tree," Dr. Bar-Yosef said, "we can see the
beginnings of agriculture."

Dr. Bar-Yosef noted that the experimental technique of repeated plantings was similar to the methods
by which hunter-gatherers collected wild grains and legumes and gradually developed cultivated crops.
Over the last century, scientists have scoured the Middle East for traces of the origins of agriculture
and argued over which were the first crops and where they were grown. Dr. Bar-Yosef believes the first
cultivated grains were introduced in what is now Israel, and north into the upper Euphrates River
valley. Other researchers think the most likely places of origin were in southern Turkey.
But scholars agree with Dr. Bar-Yosef that the beginning of agriculture, whether with the first sweet fig
or ripe grain, was pivotal in human cultural evolution.

"Eleven thousand years ago, there was a critical switch in the human mind — from exploiting the earth
as it is, to actively changing the environment to suit our needs," Dr. Bar-Yosef said in a statement from
Harvard.

"People decided to intervene in nature and supply their own food rather than relying on what was
provided by the gods."
Figs Believed to Be First Cultivated Fruit
By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD JUNE 1, 2006

In the ruins of a prehistoric village near Jericho, in the West Bank, scientists have found remains of figs
that they say appear to be the earliest known cultivated fruit crop — perhaps the first evidence
anywhere of domesticated food production at the dawn of agriculture. The figs were grown some
11,400 years ago.

Presumably that was well after Adam and Eve tried on the new look in fig leaves while tempting fate, in
which case the fleshy fruit must have grown wild in Eden.

Two botanists and an archaeologist, who describe the discovery in Friday's issue of the journal Science,
said the figs from a site in the Jordan River Valley, known as Gilgal I, came from cultivated trees that
grew about 1,000 years before such staples as wheat, barley and chick peas were widely domesticated
in the Middle East. These first grain and legume crops had previously been considered the first steps in
agriculture.

The researchers uncovered nine small figs in the ruins of a burned building. The figs may have been
dried for storage. The fire left them charred, which preserved the fruit in a condition for detailed
analysis.

A comparison with modern wild and domesticated varieties , the scientists said, led them to conclude
that the ancient figs had undergone a mutation in the wild that produced a sweet fruit but no fertile
seeds.

Because these were reproductive dead-end trees, the botanists reasoned, they could have been
propagated only by people planting shoots of the variant strain again and again. A piece of stem stuck
in the ground will sprout roots and grow into a tree, which could explain why figs were domesticated
much earlier than grape, olive and other fruit plants.

The archaeobotanists who conducted the study were Mordechai Kislev and Anat Hartman of Bar-Ilan
University in Israel. Their co-author of the journal report was Ofer Bar-Yosef, an archaeologist at the
Peabody Museum of Harvard.

In an interview by telephone from Israel, Dr. Bar-Yosef said he was "confident about the identification
of the figs as being of a domesticated variety" and that they were probably the earliest known
domesticated crop. The cultivation technique, he said, seemed to be well advanced by the time of the
discovered figs, clearly indicating that people had been intervening in nature for several centuries.

"In this intentional act of planting a specific variant of fig tree," Dr. Bar-Yosef said, "we can see the
beginnings of agriculture."

Dr. Bar-Yosef noted that the experimental technique of repeated plantings was similar to the methods
by which hunter-gatherers collected wild grains and legumes and gradually developed cultivated crops.
Over the last century, scientists have scoured the Middle East for traces of the origins of agriculture
and argued over which were the first crops and where they were grown. Dr. Bar-Yosef believes the first
cultivated grains were introduced in what is now Israel, and north into the upper Euphrates River
valley. Other researchers think the most likely places of origin were in southern Turkey.
But scholars agree with Dr. Bar-Yosef that the beginning of agriculture, whether with the first sweet fig
or ripe grain, was pivotal in human cultural evolution.

"Eleven thousand years ago, there was a critical switch in the human mind — from exploiting the earth
as it is, to actively changing the environment to suit our needs," Dr. Bar-Yosef said in a statement from
Harvard.

"People decided to intervene in nature and supply their own food rather than relying on what was
provided by the gods.