Which is the oldest fruit in the world?

Let's take you back in time, approximately a thousand years ago: Long before when the concept of supermarkets, orchards, or even organised farming existed, early humans were already gathering and eating wild fruits from forests and river valleys.

But among all the fruits ever known to civilisation today, there's one delicious ancient fruit that stands apart - a fruit so old that if we believe archaeologists, humans were cultivating it more than 11,000 years ago - before wheat and barley farming had even begun!

Any guesses as to which fruit are we talking about? Well, it's fig - the oldest fruit in the world.

Why fig is the oldest fruit in the world?

Based on several findings and archaeological discoveries, scientists and archaeobotanists widely regard fig as the oldest domesticated fruit in the world.

As a matter of fact, carbonised figs that were discovered at the Neolithic site of Gilgal I date to approximately 11,200 to 11,400 years old, making them among the earliest known examples of deliberate agriculture. The same was reported in June 2025 by scientists from Harvard University (USA) and Bar-Ilan University of Israel.

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Upon deeper research over time, scientists found out that preserved fig remains belonged to a seedless variety, meaning the trees could not reproduce naturally without human assistance. This strongly suggested that humans were intentionally cultivating and propagating fig trees thousands of years before many staple crops were domesticated.

The findings indicate that fig cultivation may have predated wheat farming, barley cultivation, and several other early agricultural practices.

This makes the fig not just one of the oldest fruits, but potentially one of humanity’s first cultivated foods.

Why are figs so different from other fruits?

Figs belong to the species Ficus carica and have existed in the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern regions for thousands of years.

Unlike many fruits, figs are botanically unusual. Technically, they are not conventional fruits but inverted flower structures containing hundreds of tiny internal florets. Their pollination system is also highly specialised, relying on tiny fig wasps in many wild varieties.

Because figs are highly nutritious, naturally sweet, and easy to dry for storage, they became an important food source in ancient civilisations.