Common figs or ficus carica is one of the first plants cultivated by man, chiefly for it edible fruit which is either eaten raw, dried or made into jams. It has been cultivated since pre-historic times and was domesticated at least 11,000 years ago in the Middle East.
The figs seems to have been used as food in great antiquity in the eastern Mediterranean or southwest Asia, for pips resembling those of Ficus carica were found at certain Neolithic sites in the eastern Mediterranean, the earliest dating to 7000 BC or before.
The remnants of fig have been found and there are clear evidence of cultivation in Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine and Egypt in the third millennium BC. In ancient Egypt, the fig was among the most frequently represented fruit in tombs. It was also cultivated in ancient Greece.
The wood is said to be indestructible, and is therefore used for Egyptian mummy cases which have been found in a sound state after the lapse of 3000 year.
The figs have been brought into cultivation in the southern Arabian Peninsula by 3000 BC.
The Spanish brought domesticated figs to America in the 16th century and later English colonists found figs growing along the southeastern coasts of North America.
In colonial times, New Englanders imported figs from the Southern Colonies and the Caribbean.
History of fig
