Ficus carica, known as the common fig, is one of the earliest plants to have ever undergone domestication. Ficus carica played many important roles in history and has become a symbol in many different cultures and religions.
Origins of cultivation and domestication
The origin of the common fig is debated. Some believe it to be indigenous to Western Asia and then spread by human activity throughout the Mediterranean. Despite uncertainty about its geographic origins, most archaeobotanists agree that the domestication of the fig tree occurred around 6500 years ago in the Near East. Scholars agree that the domestication of the fig tree came long before the domestication of other fruit crops like grapes, olives, and dates.
Researchers have found significant evidence of fig cultivation at many different late Neolithic and Neolithic sites along with Bronze Age, Assyrian, and Egyptian sites. But evidence for the first cultivation of figs has been found in the Lower Jordan Valley in an early Neolithic village known as Gilgal 1. This evidence dates back to approximately 10,000 BCE and suggests that the widespread cultivation of figs pre-dated the domestication of cereal crops by almost one thousand years.
Ficus carica specimens made ideal candidates for domestication because they are one of the most easily proliferated of all fruit trees. By simply planting a seed, or by cutting off either a limb of the fig tree or a part the fruit itself may result in an entirely new individual tree. The ability to produce many more plants in such a straightforward manner may have appealed to the early consumers of figs, as would the fruit's ability to withstand harsh, varying temperatures. Along with their rigidity, Ficus carica trees produce 3 crops throughout the year, so the yield from these plants would be significantly worth the effort put into growing them. Figs also contain a large amount of sugar. Perhaps the sweetness of these fruits also played a role in their domestication, as it would have made them more desirable to the human palate.
During the domestication of fig trees, humans compromised the characteristics of the fruit and promoted evolutionary divergence from the wild ancestor of the plant. Intuitively, those growing the figs chose to let the plants with the most desirable characteristics reproduce. In this case, plants were selected towards an increase in the size of the overall fruit. Figs with various different flesh colors were also chosen so that there are now white-, amber-, red-, and purple-colored figs. The plants that produced the sweetest fruit were also selected, increasing the sugar content of the domesticated fig versus the wild fig. Those plants that produced fruits that did not split during maturation and harvest were considered ideal because they produced a higher, usable, crop yield with more diverse uses, being less fragile and easier to handle.
Smyrna figs
Smyrna figs need to be pollinated by a fig wasp, in contrast to more domesticated forms of Ficus carica such as 'Brown Turkey', which can form figs without pollination (parthenogenetically).
Figs and fig wasps have had a symbiotic relationship throughout history. The fig wasps need the figs in order to reproduce, while the figs rely on the wasps to aid them in their pollination. In wilder forms of the plant, without pollination the young developing fig will fall off of the tree without ripening. To secure their crop, fig farmers around the Mediterranean help in the caprification (the process of fig pollination). This process is done by buying male figs from different regions that are already filled with fig wasps. They then string these figs together and hang them in their trees. When the fig wasps emerge, they pollinate the figs and allow them to mature. In this way, figs are reliant on human activities, which is representative of their domestication. Without human interference, they would not likely reach maturity.