Posted on 08/21/2018 1:49:59 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Studies of ancient preserved plant remains from a medieval archaeological site in the Pamir Mountains of Uzbekistan have shown that fruits, such as apples, peaches, apricots, and melons, were cultivated in the foothills of Inner Asia. The archaeobotanical study, conducted by Robert Spengler of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, is among the first systematic analyses of medieval agricultural crops in the heart of the ancient Silk Road. Spengler identified a rich assemblage of fruit and nut crops, showing that many of the crops we are all familiar with today were cultivated along the ancient trade routes... Spengler analyzed preserved ancient seeds and plant parts recovered from a medieval archaeological site in the foothills of the Pamir Mountains of eastern Uzbekistan. The site, Tashbulak, is currently under excavation by a collaborative international Uzbek/American project co-directed by Michael Frachetti, of Washington University in St. Louis, and Farhod Maksudov, of the Institute for Archaeological Research, Academy of Sciences in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The plant remains recovered from this site represent one of the first systematic studies of the crops that people were growing along the Silk Road. In the article, archaeobotanical data are contrasted with historical and other archaeological evidence in order to discuss the timing and routes of spread for the cultivated plants. These plant remains date to roughly a millennium ago and include apple, grape, and melon seeds, peach and apricot pits, and walnut and pistachio shells... a wide array of cultivated grains, legumes, fruits, and nuts. The site of Tashbulak is located at 2100 meters above sea level, above the maximum elevations at which many of these fruit trees can be grown, suggesting that the fruit remains recovered at the site were carried from lower elevations.
(Excerpt) Read more at eurekalert.org ...
Vendors in every Central Asian bazaar sell a diverse array of melons. These two women in the Bukhara bazaar are selling a variety akin to the famous Hami melons of Xinjiang. There is a great deal of regional pride associated with specific varieties of landrace melons. Credit: Robert Spengler
Yellin' at Eurasian fruits, probably trying to hide the fact that he's really in the closet himself..
Sorry to see this thread was hijacked. I’m a real fan of . . . melons.
Nice Melons …...
Perhaps a couple will show up?
Yeah, that’ll help. That Jayne Mansfield had some nice melons.
Ancient nomads spread earliest domestic grains along Silk Road, study finds
EurekAlert! | April 1, 2014 | Gerry Everding
Posted on 04/05/2014 8:57:03 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
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