The domestication of cherries (primarily prunus avium, & p. cerasus) was a slow, multi-regional process. It likely began in the neolithic or early bronze era, with human selection acting on wild cherry species native to Europe, Anatolia, & western Asia ⋆

The domestication of cherries (primarily prunus avium, & p. cerasus) was a slow, multi-regional process. It likely began in the neolithic or early bronze era, with human selection acting on wild cherry species native to Europe, Anatolia, & western Asia

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Prunus avium (wild sweet cherry) originated in temperate Europe and Anatolia
It is found in mixed deciduous forests, growing on the margins or in open clearings. Fruit is edible, but small, bitter, and inconsistent in wild form.

Early humans likely gathered wild cherries in se Europe and the Caucasus during neolithic to bronze age (~4000–2000 BCE).
They selection favored larger, sweeter fruits with better texture.

In the beginning humans probably selected settlements close to wild sweet cherry (P. avium) trees; and, later during the neolithic period, transplanted or grafted

In eastern Europe or Anatolia, wild sweet cherry (P. avium) hybridized with ground cherry (P. fruticosa), producing Prunus cerasus (sour cherry). Around the 2nd millennium BCE
Sour cherry tolerates colder climates and poorer soils, making it adaptable across Europe and western Asia.

Cherry pits found at neolithic, bronze age, and Roman archaeological sites in: Greece, Anatolia, and the Balkans; Switzerland and Central Europe and Roman Britain.

Check them out with some more neolithic architecture today!

Bibliography: “Cherry” (http://fruitandnuteducation.ucdavis.edu/fruitnutproduction/Cherry/). Fruit and NutInformation Center. Department of Plant Sciences, University of California at Davis. 2016.
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20160708001347/http://fruitandnuteducation.ucdavis.edu/fruitnutproduction/Cherry/)

Rhind, William (1841). A History of the Vegetable Kingdom (https://books.google.com/books?id=V1-Cg_DD0L4C&pg=PA334). Oxford University. p. 334. Archived (https://web.archive.org/we
b/20170214102917/https://books.google.ca/books?id=V1-Cg_DD0L4C&pg=PA334)

The domestication of cherries (primarily prunus avium, & p. cerasus) was a slow, multi-regional process. It likely began in the neolithic or early bronze era, with human selection acting on wild cherry species native to Europe, Anatolia, & western Asia

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