Ancient DNA reveals early use of melons in China's Song Dynasty

Abstract

Melon (Cucumis melo L.) domestication is thought to have occurred independently once in Northeast Africa and twice in India, but archaeobotanical seed remains point to a possible additional domestication in China. Because Cucumis seeds are difficult to diagnose morphologically, genomic data from archaeological material are needed to evaluate these scenarios and reconstruct ancient melon traits. We sequenced two Song Dynasty melon seeds from Shuomen Gugang (China), recovering 4.6x and 1.7x nuclear genome coverage. Nuclear and chloroplast analyses place both seeds within cultivated C. melo from China, supporting introduction from the broader Asian domestication pool rather than independent Chinese domestication. To assess whether these seeds carried traits associated with sweet dessert melons, we examined loci underlying fruit phenotypes. Neither seed carried alleles for orange flesh; one harbored an allele linked to yellow/orange peel, the other possessed alleles associated with green flesh and reduced acidity. Since wild melons are monoecious, the presence of the derived andromonoecy allele in one seed, associated with rounder fruit shape, suggests early selection on fruit morphology. Together, these findings indicate that Song Dynasty melons were likely consumed as fresh or culinary fruits rather than as sweet dessert melons. Their flesh coloration resonates with Song-period aesthetic sensibilities, exemplified by jade-green celadon ceramics frequently crafted in melon-shaped forms. By anchoring East Asian archaeobotanical remains within modern melon genomic variation, this study provides a temporal framework for melon dispersal into China and shows how ancient genomics can illuminate past crop use.