actually, all these things are so far in the distant past that i have to question any  definitive statements
about sources.  figs have been with us forever.

There's pretty good evidence for much of this, Susie.  It's not really critical to our enjoyment of figs today but I enjoy it and believe it helps us understand the diversity as well as similarity of cultivars from different countries.

As many know, I farm chestnuts and specialize in Italian marroni varieties.  It is believed these originated in Turkey and were originally brought into Italy by the Romans primarily for the purpose of stakes for their winegrapes (chestnut wood has quite a bit of tannin so it doesn't rot very quickly).

that kinda history is pretty neat, harvey.

i enjoy reading about the history of figs too.

but when it comes to prehistory, i start doubting.
archeology is fun too, but i enjoy it as partly fictional.

yours,
doubting sue

an example of contradiction.

Chef Jennifer M. Denlinger in her article "Fig" posted on "Le Cordon Bleu’s Electronic Newsletter for Food Lovers" said;

"They were brought to North Africa by Spanish Franciscan missionaries." 

On page 298 in the "Origin of cultivated plants" referenced by Harvey, I read: " The result of our inquiry shows, then that the prehistoric area of the fig tree covered the middle and southern part of the Mediterranean basin from Syria to the canaries."

This leads me to speculate that perhaps the Spanish brought with them to North Africa a prized fig variety or varieties but not the fig tree itself as it already existed there.

The question that comes up, is who had the best varieties in ancient times and where did they really come from?

Full article of Chef Jennifer M. Denlinger is at: http://foodforthoughtlcb.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/figs/

Hi,
@susieqz, I have to disagree - I can write what you did but you can not . Figtrees where brought to America from Europe :) - that is for sure and mainly by Spanish,Portuguese and later of course Italians as well.
It is just common history knowledge. Mind you, they swapped figs for tomatoes, corn and potatoes ...
@Sas : When was Spain -as we know that country today - created ? ... Around the X to XII century - The south of Spain was until then held by the Moores which were more connected to North Africa .
Thus my remark on J.C. - he tasted them on year 0 so before Spain was Spain and Spanish did exist as such.
Do you want some books on history of Europe :) ? - Just kidding - I've been myself looking into it for say ten years - at school history was too boring and too "Man directed/Man adapted" - Some facts remain in History some greater just vanish...
By the way, you surely heard of "Jeanne d'Arc" and "the catholic Kings" .

Someone asked for my sources here they are... http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figue ... I know - take that with some salt.
The most interesting part says that the remaining of 9 parthenocarpic figs aged as old as -9000 BC where found in a valley of the river Jourdain - Palestine .
My question is how could they recognize an 11000 years old fig and tell it was parthenocarpic - so no pollination required already by that time.

There is a common expression here "half figs, half grape fruits", that has its source in 700 BC, because of Greeks having legal issues exporting figs from Athens - Something with food of gods (figs) shouldn't leave Greece.
Some reading: http://www.tudosobreplantas.net/261-historia-figo-figueira/

Just one last remark: We have lots of birds traveling/wintering from Africa and Asia to Europe (Ciconia ciconia, Merops apiaster,apus apus ...). Bird poop being a known source for fig seedlings ...
We should ask the birds perhaps :) . Do birds have history books ?

jds, i'm not sure what your comment means. i know the europeans brot figs here.

your comment about birds is good tho.
certainly they spread figs, but i'm only aware of this happening in arid to semi arid areas.
is this not so?

Hi
maybe asking about fig origin is like asking where chicken came from,
maybe we should ask about how they started cultivation and creation of different strains?
they were only spread by birds?
i think that there are documents regarding this somewere.

This document shows that Amos the prophet was growing sycamore trees (not figs for some reason)-

http://ferrelljenkins.wordpress.com/2011/09/13/the-fig-and-the-sycamore-fig/

maybe the vatican? maybe some old scriptures in a libary somwhere.

Phoenicians (from actual Syria and lebanon )
and after carthaginians (wich are phonicians installed in north Africa espacially in actual Tunisia) )
introduce the culture of fig trees and propagate it all around the mediteranean world during the antiquity .
Romans were affaid of the commercial power of this delicious fruit ( figs) in the ancient town of Carthage (  eternel rival of Rome in the antiquity period)..

JoF.

Thank you Mr Harvey for initiating such an educational thread.
Although Caria is part of modern Turkey today, here's an older and more detailed (Old World) map, showing who each area of the land belonged to at those given times.
I'm sure we could find even older maps.
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/shepherd/oriental_empire.jpg

 

 


 

It's all about climate.  Riverside County.  Perfect!  Dry, windy heat in the day, and cool nights.  If there is no wind, you risk disease.  It is what it is.

Suzi

Geographer that I am, I did a little research today, biogeography being of interest to me. Looks like the most current versions of figs, both via the fossil record and gene studies, seem to show that these "modern" figs and their wasp partners have been around not less than 90 million years...and seem to have origins in Asia. Not the Levant. The mapping references cited above are from the 1920s, well before DNA studies were available and fossil studies were limited. Joe

Joe, what part of Asia?  As I wrote originally, I had read western Asia.  The definition of Asia is pretty big and includes Turkey. http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/as.htm