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RMN-Grand Palais/Art Resource, NY SHARE: * Share to Facebook * Share to X * Share via Email * Copy permalink to clipboard [https://archaeology.] Copied to clipboard [MJ25-Fruit-Manuscript-Fruit-Trees-1024x760] A 15th-century manuscript shows trees bearing (clockwise from top left): sweet apples, jujubes, lemons, cherries, dates, and sour apples. By 7,000 years ago, people in New Guinea were cultivating bananas. Around the same time, figs in the Near East and avocados in Mesoamerica were well on their way to becoming the fruits we savor today. People across the world consume an astonishing variety of fruits. These range from the smallest edible example--a neon green sphere produced by the Asian watermeal plant that measures less than the width of a pencil tip--to the largest, the 100-pound yellowish-green jackfruit. "The fruit we eat now is a result of people experimenting extensively for thousands of years," says archaeobotanist Erica Rowan of Royal Holloway. For archaeologists, evidence of ancient fruit opens unexpected pathways to understanding the past. "The seeds or pits of fruit are quite hardy and survive well in the archaeological record," says Rowan. Studying fruit can give scholars glimpses of the ingenuity of ancient peoples--for example, some used figs preserved in honey as a source of precious calories during harsh winters. People of all eras, it seems, have coveted fruit as a welcome departure from ordinary fare. "Fruit was used as a source of sugar, nutrients, flavor, and lots of different textures," says Rowan. "Fruit was everywhere, all the time. It has always been very important to people." * A Passion for Fruit May/June 2025 Royal Fruit Palenque, Mexico and Pusilha, Belize Read Article [MJ25-Fruit-Mexico-Palenque-Pakal-Sarcophagus-Lid-Alt-Featured] HIP/Art Resource, NY * A Passion for Fruit May/June 2025 Ancient Comfort Food Drumanagh, Ireland Read Article [MJ25-Fruit-Ireland-Drumanagh-Promontory-Alt-Featured] Courtesy Fingal County Council * A Passion for Fruit May/June 2025 Original Georgia Peaches American Southeast Read Article [MJ25-Fruit-Georgia-Peach-Tree-Alt-Featured] Allen Creative/Steve Allen/Alamy * A Passion for Fruit May/June 2025 The Strawberry Cure Northern France and England Read Article [MJ25-Fruit-Woodcut-Strawberry-Closeup-3-Alt-Featured] Minneapolis Institute of Art/The Minnich Collection, The Ethel Morrison Van Derlip Fund, 1966 * A Passion for Fruit May/June 2025 Funeral Fruit Vlasac, Serbia Read Article [MJ25-Fruit-Serbia-Vlasac-Cherry-Pits-Alt-Featured] Courtesy Dragana Filipovic * A Passion for Fruit May/June 2025 Poisonous Picnic Africa Read Article [MJ25-Fruit-Egypt-Painted-Relief-Watermelon-Alt-Featured] Courtesy Susanne Renner * A Passion for Fruit May/June 2025 Java's Mystic Mangoes Central Java, Indonesia Read Article [MJ25-Indonesia-Borobudur-Mango-Relief-Alt-Featured] Photo by Kassian Cephas, courtesy Universiteitsbibliotheek Leiden / Public Domain * A Passion for Fruit May/June 2025 Sneaking a Snack Sydney, Australia Read Article [MJ25-Fruit-Australia-Citrus-Peel-Cherimoya-Seeds-Alt-Featured] Photograph by Jamie North, courtesy Hyde Park Barracks Collection, Museums of History NSW Recommended Articles Digs & Discoveries July/August 2024 Rubber Ball Recipe Read Article [JA24-DD-Mexico-Rubber-Ball-Header] Digs & Discoveries January/February 2022 New Neighbors Read Article [DD_New-Neighbors-scaled] (T. 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