Oldest Recorded Domesticated Fig Found Near Kharsag – Southern Lebanon

This ancient carbonised Fig, dried for human consumption and discovered eight miles north of Jericho at Gilgal 1, proved to have been a domesticated mutant selectively propagated by local people 11,400 years ago. In this variety of Fig, known as parthenocarpic, the fruit develops without insect pollination and is prevented from falling off the tree allowing it to ripen. This edible Fig would not have survived if not for human intervention.

Roger Highfield - Daily Telegraph Friday, June 2, 2006