Phoenix Dactylifera - History of Dates

History of Dates

Dates have been a staple food of the Middle East and parts of South Asia for thousands of years. They are believed to have originated around Iraq, and have been cultivated since ancient times from Mesopotamia to prehistoric Egypt, possibly as early as 4000 BCE. The Ancient Egyptians used the fruits to be made into date wine, and ate them at harvest. There is archaeological evidence of date cultivation in eastern Arabia in 6000 BCE. (Alvarez-Mon 2006).

There is also archeological evidence of date cultivation in Mehrgarh around 7000 BCE, a Neolithic civilization in western Pakistan. Evidence of cultivation is continually found throughout later civilizations in South Asia, including the Harappan period 2600 to 1900 BCE. (Kenoyer 2005).

In later times, traders spread dates around South and South West Asia, northern Africa, and Spain and Italy. Dates were introduced into Mexico and California by the Spaniards by 1765, around Mission San Ignacio.

A date palm cultivar, known as Judean date palm is renowned for its long-lived orthodox seed, which successfully sprouted after accidental storage for 2000 years. This particular seed was presently reputed to be the oldest viable seed until the sprouting of over 30,000 year old silene stenophylla seeds, but the upper survival time limit of properly stored seeds remains unknown.