Peach History

Dried date, peach, apricot, and stones. From Lahun, Fayum, Egypt. Late Middle
Kingdom. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London

Although its botanical name Prunus persica refers to Persia (present Iran) from
where it came to Europe, genetic studies suggest peaches originated in China,[12]
where they have been cultivated since the neolithic period. Until recently, it was
believed that the cultivation started c. 2000 BC.[13][14] More recent evidence
indicates that domestication occurred as early as 6000 BC in Zhejiang Province of
China. The oldest archaeological peach stones are from the Kuahuqiao site.
Archaeologists point to the Yangtze River Valley as the place where the early
selection for favorable peach varieties probably took place.[15] Peaches were
mentioned in Chinese writings and literature beginning from the early 1st
millennium BC.[16]

A domesticated peach appeared very early in Japan, in 6700–6400 BP (4700–4400 BC),

during the Jōmon period. It was already similar to modern cultivated forms, where
the peach stones are significantly larger and more compressed than earlier stones.
This domesticated type of peach was brought into Japan from China. Nevertheless, in
China itself, this variety is currently attested only at a later date of c. 5300 to
4300 BP.[15]

In India, the peach first appeared by c. 3700 BP (1700 BC), during the Harappan
period.[17]

It is also found elsewhere in Western Asia in ancient times.[18] Peach cultivation

reached Greece by 300 BC.[14] It is often claimed that Alexander the Great
introduced the fruit into Europe after he conquered the Persians,[18] although
there is no historical evidence for this belief.[19] Peaches were, however, well
known to the Romans in the 1st century AD,[14] and were cultivated widely in
Emilia-Romagna. Peach trees are portrayed in the wall paintings of the towns
destroyed by the Vesuvius eruption of 79 AD, while the oldest known artistic
representations of the fruit are in two fragments of wall paintings, dated to the
1st century AD, in Herculaneum, now preserved in the National Archaeological Museum
in Naples.[20]