Abstract
The discovery of several 5000-year old seeds of wild watermelon, Citrullus lanatus, at an archaeological site Uan Muhuggiag in southwest Libya, re-opens the debate on the origin, wild distribution and domestication history of this species. The seeds were found within a plant assemblage of wild seeds and fruits, associated with pottery and bones of domestic animals belonging to Neolithic pastoralists. The presumed wild progenitor of the modern cultivar C. lanatus is today found exclusively in a region centring on the Kalahari Desert. This new archaeobotanical record raises the possibility that this distribution was much more extensive in the past.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barich, B.E. (1992). The botanical collections from Ti-n-Torha/Two Caves and Uan Muhuggiag (Tadrart Acacus, Libya) - an archaeological commentary. Origini, 16, 109–123
Candolle, de A. (1886). Origine des plantes cultivées. Félix Alcan, Paris
Fursa, T.B. (1972a). K sistematike roda Citrullus Schrad. [On the taxonomy of genus Citrullus Schrad.]. Botanicheski Zhurnal, 57, 31–41
Fursa, T.B. (1972b). K evolutzii roda Citrullus. Schrad. [On the evolution of the genus Citrullus Schrad.] Botanicheski Zhurnal, 57, 1365–1372
Germer, R. (1985). Flora des pharaonischen Aegypten. Philipp von Zabern, Mainz am Rhein
Germer, R. (1988). Katalog der altägyptischen Pflanzenreste der Berliner Museen. Ägyptologische Abhandlungen, 47, 1–72
Hepper, F.N. (1990). Pharaoh’s flowers. The botanical treasures of Tutankhamun. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London
Jeffrey, C. (1967). Cucurbitaceae. In: Milne-Redhead, E., Polhill, R.M. (eds) Flora of East tropical Africa. Crown Agents for Overseas Governments and Administrations, London
Jeffrey, C. (2001). Cucurbitaceae. In: Hanelt, P. (ed) Mansfeld’s encyclopedia of agricultural and horticultural crops. 3. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp 1510–1557
Kroll, H. (1999). Literature on archaeological remains of cultivated plants (1997/1998). Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 8, 129–163
Kučan, D. (1995). Zur Ernährung und dem Gebrauch von Pflanzen im Heraion von Samos im 7. Jahrhundert v. Chr. Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, 110, 1–64
Levkovskaya, G.M., Filatenko, A.A. (1992). Palaeobotanical and palynological studies in South Arabia. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 73, 241–257
Marinval, P. (1999). Les fruits et leurs usages au travers des restes archéologiques: en France, de la Préhistoire à l’Antiquité. Actes du colloque de La Ferté Bernard (Sarthe), 16–17 octobre 1998. AFCEV, Paris, pp 53–64
Meeuse, A.D.J. (1962). The Cucurbitaceae of Southern Africa. Bothalia, 8, 1–111
Netolitzky, F. (1943). Nachweise von Nahrungs- und Heilmitteln in den Trockenleichen von Naga-ed-dêr (Ägypten). Mitteilungen des Deutschen Instituts für Ägyptische Altertumskunde in Kairo, Erstes Ergänzungsheft, 5–33
Schulz, E. (1987). Die Holozäne Vegetation der Zentralen Sahara (N-Mali, N-Niger, SW-Libyen). In: Coetzee, J.A. (ed) Palaeoecology of Africa and the surrounding Islands. Balkema, Rotterdam, pp 143–161
Schulz, E. (1991). Holocene environments in the central Sahara. Hydrobiologia, 214, 359–365
Schulze-Motel, J. (1974). Literatur über archäologische Kulturpflanzenreste (1972/1973). Kulturpflanze, 22, 61–76
Schweinfurth, G. (1883). The flora of ancient Egypt. Nature, 28, 109–114
Schweinfurth, G. (1884). Ueber Pflanzenreste aus altaegyptischen Gräbern. Berichte der Deutschen Botanischen Gesellschaft, 2, 351–371
Shaw, T. (1976). Early crops in Africa: a review of the evidence. In: Harlan, J.R., de Wet, J.M.J., Stemler, A.B.L. (eds) Origins of African Plant Domestication. Mouton Publishers, The Hague, pp 107–153
Sheriff, A.S., Saddiqi, M.A. (1988). Poaceae. In: Jafri, S.M.A., el-Gadi, A. (eds) Flora of Libya 67, Al Faateh University, Tripoli
Veen, M. van der (1995). Ancient agriculture in Libya: a review of the evidence. Acta Palaeobotanica, 35, 85–98
Walter, H., Hernickell, E., Mueller-Dembois D. (1975). Klimadiagramm-Karten der einzelnen Kontinente und die ökologische Klimagliederung der Erde. Vegetationsmonographien der einzelnen Grossräume, 10. Stuttgart
Wasylikowa, K. (1992). Holocene flora of the Tadrart Acacus area, SW Libya, based on plant macrofossils from Uan Muhuggiag and Ti-n-Torha/Two Caves archaeological sites. Origini, 16, 125–159
Wasylikowa, K. (1993). Plant macrofossils from the archaeological sites Uan Muhuggiag and Ti-n-Torha, Southwestern Libya. In: Krzyżaniak, L., Kobusiewicz, M., Alexander, J. (eds) Environmental change and human culture in the Nile Basin and Northern Africa until second millenium B.C. Poznań Archaeological Museum, Poznań, pp 25–41
Zeist, W. van (1983). Fruits in foundation deposits of two temples. Journal of Archaeological Science, 10, 351–354
Zeven, A.C., Zhukovsky, P.M. (1975). Dictionary of cultivated plants and their centres of diversity. Centre for Agriculture Publishing and Documentation, Wageningen
Zohary, D. (1983). Wild genetic resources of crops in Israel. Israel Journal of Botany, 32, 97–127
Zohary, D., Hopf, M. (2000). Domestication of plants in the Old World. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank C. Jeffrey for the examination of the Uan Muhuggiag specimens, R. Housley for his help with arranging the radiocarbon dates of the seeds, S. Colledge for the seed drawings and A. Bieniek for the seed photographs.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wasylikowa, K., van der Veen, M. An archaeobotanical contribution to the history of watermelon, Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai (syn. C. vulgaris Schrad.). Veget Hist Archaeobot 13, 213–217 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-004-0039-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-004-0039-6