Fuller Dorian Q
Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PY UK.
Veg Hist Archaeobot. 2018;27(1):165-176. doi: 10.1007/s00334-017-0659-2. Epub 2017 Dec 9.
This paper asks whether we can identify a recurrent domestication syndrome for tree crops (fruits, nuts) and track archaeologically the evolution of domestication of fruits from woody perennials. While archaeobotany has made major contributions to documenting the domestication process in cereals and other annual grains, long-lived perennials have received less comparative attention. Drawing on examples from across Eurasia, comparisons suggest a tendency for the larger domesticated fruits to contain seeds that are proportionally longer, thinner and with more pointed (acute to attenuated) apices. Therefore, although changes in flavour, such as increased sweetness, are not recoverable, seed metrics and shape provide an archaeological basis for tracking domestication episodes in fruits from woody perennials. Where available, metrical data suggest length increases, as well as size diversification over time, with examples drawn from the Jomon of Japan (), Neolithic China () and the later Neolithic of the Near East () to estimate rates of change. More limited data allow us to also compare Mesoamerica avocado () and western Pacific sp. nuts and sp. fruits. Data from modern Indian jujube () are also considered in relation to seed length:width trends in relation to fruit contents (flesh proportion, sugar content). Despite the long generation time in tree fruits, rates of change in their seeds are generally comparable to rates of phenotypic evolution in annual grain crops, suggesting that gradual evolution via unconscious selection played a key role in initial processes of tree domestication, and that this had begun in the later Neolithic once annual crops had been domesticated, in both west and east Asia.
本文探讨我们是否能够识别出木本多年生果树作物（水果、坚果）反复出现的驯化综合征，并通过考古学追踪木本多年生水果驯化的演变过程。虽然考古植物学在记录谷类和其他一年生谷物的驯化过程中做出了重大贡献，但多年生木本植物受到的比较关注较少。以欧亚大陆各地的例子为依据，比较结果表明，较大的驯化水果往往含有相对更长、更细且顶端更尖（从锐尖到渐尖）的种子。因此，尽管诸如甜度增加等风味变化无法复原，但种子的尺寸和形状为追踪木本多年生水果的驯化事件提供了考古学依据。在有数据可用的地方，测量数据表明种子长度会增加，而且随着时间推移尺寸会多样化，文中以日本绳纹时代（）、中国新石器时代（）和近东新石器时代晚期（）的例子来估算变化速率。更有限的数据使我们能够比较中美洲的鳄梨（）以及西太平洋的 属坚果和 属水果。还结合现代印度枣（）种子长度与宽度的趋势以及果实含量（果肉比例、糖分含量）来考虑相关数据。尽管果树结果所需时间长，但它们种子的变化速率通常与一年生谷物作物的表型进化速率相当，这表明通过无意识选择进行的渐进进化在果树驯化的初始过程中发挥了关键作用，而且在新石器时代晚期，一旦一年生作物在西亚和东亚都已被驯化，这种进化就已经开始。
