An American university reveals a secret about watermelon after analyzing 6,000-year-old seeds from Libya
A recent scientific study conducted by a team of researchers at Washington St. Louis University revealed that the ancient Libyans were the first to know watermelon, after analyzing a sample of seeds dating back 6000 years.
The results of the study showed that the Libyans used to eat watermelon seeds as nuts during that period, while its results did not show the type of those seeds, whether they were sweet or bitter.
Earlier, researchers believed that watermelon cultivation spread in South Africa before other studies showed that it was spread in Egypt and Sudan, but the seeds found by scientists in the Libyan Acacus Mountains showed that varieties of this fruit spread in Libya during the Neolithic era. That is, between 9000 and 4500 years BC.
Susan Rayner, a biologist at Washington University in St. Louis, commented on the results of the study, saying: "Analysis of the chromosome genome of the sample enabled us to confirm that the Libyans used a type of bitter melon during the Neolithic period, and we suspect that they accepted the cultivation of the fruit to eat its seeds later." .
For his part, said Guillaume Shumeki, one of the participants in preparing the study, "It appears that the watermelon was initially planted with the aim of eating its seeds and not eating its sweet pulp, and this study documents that stage that preceded the domestication of this fruit, that is, it dates back to more than 6000 years."
Biologists had previously concluded that the ancient Egyptians were the first to eat the pulp of the watermelon during their time, but analysis of the genome sequence of the seeds excavated in Libya showed that the ancient Libyans used the seeds of the fruit as nuts in prehistoric times.
Source: Maghreb Voices
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