15 October 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

An ancient melon genome from Libya reveals interesting insights regarding watermelon relatives

The earliest known seeds from a watermelon related were discovered during an archaeological dig in Libya, going back 6,000 years to the Neolithic period. An examination of these seeds performed by biologist Susanne S. Renner of Washington University in St. Louis offers some surprises about how our ancestors used a predecessor of today’s watermelon.

These results and two new genomes of ancient seeds are published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.

Scientists generally agree that watermelons came from Africa, but exactly where and when watermelons with red, sweet flesh were first domesticated from their wild form is debatable. The most recent data point to watermelon getting its start in the Nile valley, which is consistent with archaeological evidence.

However, the very old seeds discovered at Uan Muhuggiag, a rock shelter in what is now the Sahara Desert in Libya, seemed at odds with this explanation. There was no way to be certain of their identity prior to this investigation.

“The oldest seeds of watermelons cannot be securely identified as either belonging to a sweet-pulped domesticated form, or instead to one of the bitter-pulped wild forms,” said Renner, an honorary professor of biology in Arts & Sciences. “The seeds of the seven species of Citrullus are basically undistinguishable.”



📣 Our WhatsApp channel is now LIVE! Stay up-to-date with the latest news and updates, just click here to follow us on WhatsApp and never miss a thing!!



An sudden new perception from this examine is that Citrullus seems to have initially been collected or cultivated for its seeds, not its candy flesh, in step with seed injury patterns induced by human enamel within the oldest Libyan materials. Credit score: Molecular Biology and Evolution

“Now, having a chromosome-level genome, we can be sure that Neolithic Libyans were using a bitter-fleshed watermelon,” she said. “We suspect they used the fruits to get at the (numerous!) seeds, which even today are eaten air-dried or roasted or also boiled in soups or stews.”

Co-senior author Guillaume Chomicki, a National Environmental Research Council fellow at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom, collected dozens of samples of watermelon and watermelon relatives from herbarium specimens in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, as part of the quest to trace the path of watermelon’s domestication.

He and Renner also obtained much older samples: the 6,000-year-old Libyan seeds and another set of 3,300-year-old Sudanese seeds.

“These seeds were a riddle because they were thought to be the oldest true watermelon seeds,” Chomicki said. “Yet they were from Libya, which was never thought to be the cradle of watermelon domestication.”

The scientists generated genome sequences from the seeds from Libya and Sudan and from the herbarium collections, and analyzed these data together with resequenced genomes from important germplasm collections. They discovered that the oldest seeds came from a plant known as an egusi melon, a watermelon relative that is currently restricted to western Africa.

“Both plant ‘fossils’ were C-14 dated and, as far as we know, are among the oldest plant genomes ever obtained,” Renner said.

“An unexpected new insight is that Citrullus appears to have initially been collected or cultivated for its seeds, not its sweet flesh, consistent with seed damage patterns induced by human teeth in the oldest Libyan material,” Chomicki said. “This study documents the use of the seeds (rather than the fruit) of a watermelon relative more than 6,000 years ago, prior to the domestication of the watermelon.”

“Watermelons — the wild species, as well as the domesticated form — have very numerous seeds that are tasty and oil-rich,” Renner said. “Different from the pulp, the seeds never contain the extremely bitter cucurbitacin chemical. Snacking on those easily available nutritious seeds may have been a good thing.”

Washington University in St. Louis

Related Articles

Israeli researchers create AI to translate ancient cuneiform Akkadian texts

4 May 2023

4 May 2023

Israeli experts have created a program to translate an ancient language that is difficult to decipher, allowing automatic and accurate...

Early Imperial cemetery in Nîmes, in the south of France

4 October 2022

4 October 2022

Inrap archaeologists excavating at Nîmes in southern France have uncovered a cemetery dating to the first to second centuries AD...

Scotland’s oldest tartan discovered in Highlands bog

1 April 2023

1 April 2023

According to new research, a piece of fabric discovered in a bog in the Scottish Highlands may be the oldest...

Significant Early Christian Discovery: 1,500-Year-Old Cathedral and Baptistery Unearthed Beneath Marketplace

27 August 2025

27 August 2025

In Vence, a historic town just west of Nice in southeastern France, archaeologists have uncovered one of the most significant...

Ancient Roman 3rd-century defensive wall found in Germany

24 March 2024

24 March 2024

An exciting archaeological discovery was made during construction work in Aachen’s city center, Germany. At the corner of Pontstrasse and...

Two statuettes of Demeter discovered in Aigai, the ‘city of goats’ of the Aeolians in western Türkiye

20 November 2023

20 November 2023

Two statuettes of Demeter, the Greek goddess of earth and fertility, were discovered in a cistern in the ancient city...

World’s oldest wooden structure ‘476,000 years old’ discovered in Zambia

20 September 2023

20 September 2023

An ancient wooden structure found at Kalambo Falls, Zambia—dated to about 476,000 years ago—may represent the earliest use of wood...

2400-year-old artifacts discovered in the Black Sea’s first scientific underwater excavation

25 March 2024

25 March 2024

Dozens of historical artifacts dating from the 4th century BC to the 12th century AD were unearthed in the first...

Research Uncovers a Long-Isolated North African Human Lineage in the Central Sahara from Over 7,000 Years Ago

4 April 2025

4 April 2025

A recent study conducted by a team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, including senior author...

New insights into Scotland’s ‘bodies in the bog’

31 March 2022

31 March 2022

Fourteen bodies were found at Cramond near Edinburgh in 1975. New research suggests that two of the remains of these...

7,000-Year-Old Human Footprints in Anatolia: Unearthed at Hatay’s Tell Kurdu Höyük

30 September 2025

30 September 2025

In a rare and captivating discovery, archaeologists have uncovered ancient human footprints dating back approximately 7,000 years at the site...

New AI Tool ‘Fragmentarium’ Brings Ancient Babylonian Texts Together

6 February 2023

6 February 2023

An artificial intelligence (AI) bot was developed by linguists at the Institute for Assyriology at Ludwig Maximilian University in Germany...

Vindolanda marks the 1900th anniversary of Hadrian’s Wall with an altar discovery

9 February 2022

9 February 2022

The excavation season hasn’t started yet, but the Vindolanda Roman fort has kicked off Hadrian’s Wall’s 1900th anniversary year with...

4,000-year-old cylinder seal found in Blaundos excavations

29 September 2022

29 September 2022

A 4,000-year-old cylinder seal was found during the excavations of the ancient city of Blaundus (or Blaundos, as it is...

Montenegro’s Unique Church With Two Altars is Disappearing

11 December 2023

11 December 2023

In the Spich plain, where the modern town of Sutomore in Bar, Montenegro is located, there were churches that served...