Archaeological Evidence for Peach (Prunus persica) Cultivation and Domestication in China

The cultivated/domesticated peach (Prunus persica var. persica; Rosaceae, subgenus Amygdalus; synonym: Amygdalus persica) originated in China, but its wild ancestor, as well as where, when, and under what circumstances the peach was domesticated, is poorly known. Five populations of archaeological peach stones recovered from Zhejiang Province, China, document peach use and evolution beginning ca. 8000 BP. The majority of the archaeological sites from which the earliest peach stones have been recovered are from the Yangzi River valley, indicating that this is where early selection for favorable peach varieties likely took place. Furthermore, peach stone morphology through time is consistent with the hypothesis that an unknown wild P. persica was the ancestor of the cultivated peach. The oldest archaeological peach stones are from the Kuahuqiao (8000–7000 BP) and Tianluoshan (7000–6500 BP) sites and both stone samples segregate into two size groups, suggesting early selection of preferred types. The first peach stones in China most similar to modern cultivated forms are from the Liangzhu culture (ca. 5300 to 4300 BP), where the peach stones are significantly larger and more compressed than earlier stones. Similar peach stones are reported from Japan much earlier (6700–6400 BP). This large, compressed-stone peach was introduced to Japan and indicates a yet unidentified source population in China that was similar to the Liangzhu culture peach. This study proposes that the lower Yangzi River valley is a region, if not the region, of early peach selection and domestication and that the process began at least 7500 years ago.