Peach trees domesticated 7,500 years ago in China

New research has revealed that farmers began to domesticate peach trees 7,500 years ago in the Yangtze River Valley in China.

Peach stones are well represented at archeological sites in the Yangtze valley, so they compared the size and structure of the stones from six sites that spanned a period of roughly 5,000 years. By comparing the size of the stones from each site, they were able to discern peaches growing significantly larger over time in the Yangtze valley, demonstrating that domestication was taking place. The first peach stones in China most similar to modern cultivated forms are from the Liangzhu culture, which flourished 4,300 to 5300 years

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Story: University of Toronto | Photo: University of Toronto