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Peoples in central America have actively been farming avocado trees for a long time
Evidence from the El Gigante rock shelter in Honduras shows that humans were consuming avocados as early as 11,000 years ago.
The avocado, or persea americana, is native to Central America and southern Mexico
Its wild gene pool extends from central Mexico through Guatemala into parts of Central America
Its believed around 7,500 years ago, early agriculturalists in Honduras started domesticating
Well before the rise of Mesoamerica’s famous trio of maize, beans, and squash.
Avocado remains (seeds/pits) have been found in the Tehuacán Valley of Mexico dating to approximately 9,000–10,000 years ago, indicating early human consumption
Early humans managed wild trees, selecting for traits such as: Larger seeds and increased edible flesh, Thicker rinds (fruit skin), Improved fruit robustness and quality
Which also made them more productive and easier to transport.
Grown on a tree, avocados, or persea americana are important crops. That have been around more than 10,000 years. Check it out with some more neolithic architecture today.
Bibliography: Early evidence of avocado domestication from El Gigante Rockshelter, Honduras – Archaeological Center – The University of Utah. (n.d.). https://uuac.utah.edu/publications/mccool_3-2025.php
Amber M. VanDerwarker, Heather B. Thakar, Kenneth Hirth, Alejandra I. Domic, Thomas K. Harper, Richard J. George, Emily S. Johnson, Victoria Newhall, Timothy E. Scheffler, Weston C. McCool, Kevin Wann, Brandon S. Gaut, Logan Kistler, and Douglas J. Kennett (2025). Early evidence of avocado domestication from El Gigante Rockshelter, Honduras, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 122(10):e2417072122 | doi:10.1073/pnas.2417072122
Galindo-Tovar, M.E., Arzate-Fernández, A.M., Ogata-Aguilar, N., Landero-Torres, I. (2007). The avocado crop in Mesoamerica: 10,000 years of history, Harvard Papers in Botany.
bioone.org
User, G. (2025, August 28). Unearthing Guac’s Roots: Anthropologist traces 11,000 years of avocado domestication. The Archaeologist. https://www.thearchaeologist.org/blog/unearthing-guacs-roots-anthropologist-traces-11000-years-of-avocado-domestication
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