Peaches or amygdalus persica, were domesticated. Their history is unusually well documented through archaeology, genetics, & ancient texts

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Archaeological peach stones show human use and selection beginning around 6 thousand BCE
The earliest human sites are concentrated in the Yangtze River Valley. Though earlier fossil existed. It was millions of years before humans.

People begin selecting for larger and sweeter fruits
It was around 7.5 thousand years ago, archaeologists especially noted the larger pit sizes. And, its correlation to a larger fruit.

Peaches are great because: they mature quickly in 2 to 3 years; respond well to selective breeding; produce lots of fruit; and, are a nutritious and calorie rich fruit.

They reached Japan by ~4700–4400 BCE
And, into the bronze age beyond.

Check our peaches, or amydalus persica, out with some more neolithic architecture today.

Bibliography: Zheng, Yunfei; Crawford, Gary W.; Chen, Xugao (5 September 2014). “Archaeological Evidence for Peach (Prunus persica) Cultivation and Domestication in China” (https://www.ncb i.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4156326). PLOS ONE. 9 (9) e106595. Bibcode:2014PLoSO…9j6595Z (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014PLoSO…9j6595Z). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0106595 (https://doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0106595).
ISSN 1932-6203 (https://search.worldcat.org/issn/1932-6203). PMC 4156326 (https://www.ncb i.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4156326). PMID 25192436 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25 192436). Pg 1, 7–8

Faust, Miklos; Timon, Béla (1995). “Chapter 10. Origin and Dissemination of Peach”. In Janick, Jules (ed.). Horticultural Reviews. Vol. 17 (First ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 331– 379. doi:10.1002/9780470650585.ch10 (https://doi.org/10.1002%2F9780470650585.ch10). ISBN 978-0-471-57335-7. OCLC 827631597 (https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/827631597). Pg. 332.

Su, T., Wilf, P., Huang, Y. et al. Peaches Preceded Humans: Fossil Evidence from SW China. Sci Rep 5, 16794 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/srep16794

Griggs, M. B. (2014, September 8). Peaches were domesticated in China 7,500 years ago. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/peaches-domesticated-china-7500-years-ago-180952640/

Chinese Academy of Sciences. (n.d.). Oldest Peach Fossil Found in Yunnan. https://english.cas.cn/newsroom/archive/research_archive/rp2015/201511/t20151130_156599.shtml

Holland-Lulewicz, J., Thompson, V., Thompson, A.R. et al. The initial spread of peaches across eastern North America was structured by Indigenous communities and ecologies. Nat Commun 15, 8245 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-52597-8

Carroll, M. (2016, January 21). Eat a paleo peach: First fossil peaches discovered in southwest China. Penn State University. https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/eat-paleo-peach-first-fossil-peaches-discovered-southwest-china

It’s the pits: Ancient peach stones offer clues to fruit’s origins (2014, September 6)
from https://phys.org/news/2014-09-pits-ancient-peach-stones-
clues.html

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