5,000-year-old fig seeds found at Yassitepe Mound in Izmir

In the Bornova district of Izmir, the oldest fig seeds in Anatolia were discovered in an ancient mound dating back 5,000 years

The excavations at the Yassıtepe Mound in Bornova, Izmir, under the leadership of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zafer Derin, a member of the Ege University Faculty of Letters, Department of Archaeology, with the permission of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, has yielded the oldest fig seeds in Anatolia, dating back 5,000 years.

According to Derin, “Yassıtepe Mound stands as the initial urban settlement in Izmir. Here, we found fig seeds for the first time in the remains of houses dating back 5,000 years. This is an important find due to Anatolia being the cradle and native land of figs. Figs have been produced here for thousands of years. It also spread to other regions. The fig kernels unearthed at Yassıtepe Mound represent the oldest specimens known to date, dating back 5,000 years in Anatolia. It’s worth mentioning that, apart from Anatolia, Lebanon is the only location where fossilized fig kernel samples from an even older period have been found.”

Source: Newsroom