Editing Date palm (section)

===Agricultural history===
Dates have been cultivated in the Middle East and the Indus Valley for thousands of years, and there is archaeological evidence of date cultivation in [[Mehrgarh]], a Neolithic civilization in western Pakistan, around 7000&nbsp;BCE<ref name="KenoyerHeuston2005">{{cite book |last1=Kenoyer |first1=Jonathan Mark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7CjvF88iEE8C&pg=PP1 |title=The Ancient South Asian World |last2=Heuston |first2=Kimberley Burton |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-19-522243-2 |series=The World in Ancient Times |access-date=30 July 2013}}{{Page needed|date=July 2013}}</ref> and in [[eastern Arabia]] between 5530 and 5320 [[Radiocarbon dating#Calibration|calBC]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tengberg |first1=M. |date=November 2012 |title=Beginnings and early history of date palm garden cultivation in the Middle East |journal=Journal of Arid Environments |volume=86 |pages=139–147 |bibcode=2012JArEn..86..139T |doi=10.1016/j.jaridenv.2011.11.022}}</ref> Dates have been cultivated since ancient times from Mesopotamia to [[prehistoric Egypt]]. The [[ancient Egypt]]ians used the fruits to make date [[wine]] and ate dates at harvest.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}} Evidence of cultivation is continually found throughout later civilizations in the Indus Valley, including the [[Harappa]]n period from 2600 to 1900&nbsp;BCE.<ref name="KenoyerHeuston2005" />
[[File:Mazafati dates - whole, halved and seed.jpg|thumb|Mazafati dates]]
One [[cultivar]], the [[Judean date palm]], is renowned for its long-lived [[orthodox seed]], which successfully sprouted after accidental storage for 2,000 years.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Fountain |first=Henry |date=2008-06-17 |title=Date Seed of Masada is Oldest Ever to Sprout |newspaper=New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/science/17obseed.html |access-date=9 December 2021 |archive-date=9 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211209185228/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/science/17obseed.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In total seven seeds about 2000 years old have sprouted and turned into trees named Methuselah, Hannah, Adam, Judith, Boaz, Jonah and Uriel.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Origins and insights into the historic Judean date palm based on genetic analysis of germinated ancient seeds and morphometric studies|first1=Sarah|last1=Sallon|first2=Emira|last2=Cherif|first3=Nathalie|last3=Chabrillange|first4=Elaine|last4=Solowey|first5=Muriel|last5=Gros-Balthazard|first6=Sarah|last6=Ivorra|first7=Jean-Frédéric|last7=Terral|first8=Markus|last8=Egli|first9=Frédérique|last9=Aberlenc|date=7 February 2020|journal=Science Advances|volume=6|issue=6|pages=eaax0384|doi=10.1126/sciadv.aax0384|pmid=32076636|pmc=7002127|bibcode=2020SciA....6..384S }}</ref> The upper survival time limit of properly stored seeds remains unknown.<ref>{{cite web |last=Bonner |first=Franklin T. |date=April 2008 |title=Chapter 4 Storage of Seeds |url=http://www.nsl.fs.fed.us/Chapter%204.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.nsl.fs.fed.us/Chapter%204.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |access-date=2008-06-21 |work=Woody Plant Seed Manual, USDA FS Agriculture Handbook 727 |publisher=National Seed Laboratory, 5675 Riggins Mill Rd, Dry Branch, GA 31020}}</ref> A genomic study from New York University Abu Dhabi Center for Genomics and Systems Biology showed that domesticated date palm varieties from North Africa, including well-known varieties such as [[Medjool]] and [[Deglet Nour]], share large parts of their genome with Middle East date palms and the Cretan wild palms, ''[[Phoenix theophrasti|P.&nbsp;theophrasti]]'', as well as Indian wild palms, ''[[Phoenix sylvestris]]''.

An article on date palm tree cultivation is contained in [[Ibn al-'Awwam]]'s 12th-century agricultural work, ''Book on Agriculture''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ibn al-'Awwam |first=Yaḥyá |author-link=Ibn al-'Awwam |url=https://archive.org/details/lelivredelagric00algoog/page/n14/mode/2up |title=Le livre de l'agriculture d'Ibn-al-Awam (kitab-al-felahah) |publisher=A. Franck |year=1864 |location=[[Paris]] |pages=321–326 (ch. 7 – Article 43) |language=fr |translator=J.-J. Clement-Mullet |oclc=780050566}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; clear:right; width:14em; text-align:center; margin-right:1em;"
|+ Dates production – 2022
|-
! colspan=2|<small>millions of tonnes</small>
|-
|{{EGY}} || 1.7 
|-
|{{SAU}} || 1.6
|-
|{{ALG}} || 1.2
|-
|{{IRN}} || 1.0
|-
|{{PAK}} || 0.7
|-
|{{IRQ}} || 0.7
|-
!World || 9.7
|-
|colspan=2|<small>Source:[[UN Food and Agriculture Organization]], Statistics Division</small><ref name="FAO">{{cite web|url=http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC|title=Dates production in 2022, Crops/Regions/World list/Production Quantity/Year (pick lists)|date=2024|publisher=UN Food and Agriculture Organization, Corporate Statistical Database ([[FAOSTAT]])|access-date=1 May 2024}}</ref>
|}