I was thinking about figs recently (surprised?) and how I have read that evidence has been found of people cultivating parthenocarpic (Common) figs 8 to 11 thousand years ago.

That made me wonder; is it possible that some of the fig trees that we like to grow now might have been handed down from generation to generation since the tree was first discovered as a seedling maybe 10 thousand years ago?

It seems that this is possible. Does anyone else have any thoughts on this? I find it awe inspiring to think that one of the little fig plants I am growing may have originated from a seed that germinated many thousands of years ago, having survived by people always propagating cuttings and passing them on.

That is probably exactly what happened! Maybe they first
noticed a WILD good-tasting fig and propagated it simply
from a self-rooting twig (touching the soil) and later by
learning to just bury a twig in the ground.

That kept many known heirloom fig cultivars alive to this day.

Recently some (modern) selective fig-breeding was done
by UC and LSU and I am sure by many others.

That also would explain the great variation within our figs as well. 10,000 years is more than enough time for genetic mutation. It also explains why so many figs are almost identical but definitely different. Take one parent population with one mother fig. That population divides by immigration to other areas of the globe. Now give each immigrating group a handful of cuttings from that same mother tree and let them plant them in other areas of the globe. With time in the new areas under different soil and climatic conditions different genes may be suppressed or expressed (limb sports) creating newer varieties. Now add to this mix seperate parent populations bringing each their own cuttings from their mother trees. Some of these move into areas where the fig wasps combine the genetics of these original mother trees for even more new varieties. None of these movements are single events as human nature keeps these populations on the move mixing and intermingling. Couple this with our notorious short term memory and shifting language patterns and we get our current situation of figs and their synonyms.
That said, do some of the cultivars we grow trace back in a direct line to the original "wild" selections? Who knows? I would like to think that humanity's innate desire to hold on to what we know (read comfort food, hording of items from the past, resistance to change, etc.) has kept some of the original strains alive and growing among us.  

I've often wondered if anthropologists were to study our food source plants and were able to do the genetics of them what would it show about migration patterns.

Ciao Bluesguy,  Yes, you are correct. This is how we have the figs handed down. On my family orchards, they are all from the originals, mostly going back hundreds of years.  We have quite a few individual trees that are well over 120 years old. Every year the family takes the cuttings from these old and ancient trees and sticks them in the dirt and sends to me here in America.  I am glad that my family in the old country has remained on the same land for these many hundreds of years, actually since we kept real family records. This keeps everything recorded and personal, and what fascinates me is that nothing has changed with our fig trees and orchards there. Its just passed from father to childrens, mother to childrens, down the entire line. I just hope one day our future generations in our family will keep up what we have done and not sell our property. I want the blood and sweat to be respected with the younger family members and hopefully they will add their blood and sweat to and respect what we have done for so long. Such a good legacy. I like sharing some of this legacy with fig friends here in America as well. Its more than just a tree. Its a family tree really.  Ciao  

Yo, Maggie!

You are a woman after my own heart.  I keep telling these kids that we do not build for a generation, we build for the centuries. 

Not long ago, perhaps ten years, I was in charge of building some large ponds on a gun club I belong to.  I told those guys to build for a century, that we did not want even our grandkids to have to rebuild.  We also built rifle and pistol ranges, then on open land.  I told them to build so that they could one day be enclosed, that soon houses and people would be all around. 

Already we are being surrounded, but we have planned and saved so that we will be able to cover and baffle-- We will pass these things on so that even hundreds of years from now the ranges will be safe places to shoot even if homes are built next door.

People in other countries have considered these things from the earliest of times; here in America we tend to think that the future will take care of itself.  Not so; someone must prepare the way. 

That is why I have given so many of my kin little fig trees.  Most of them live in warmer climates than mine, so those trees should prosper and in turn be passed on, as cuttings, to others.
Ox