In The Desert Cities of Coachella Valley
Coachella Valley
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Reclamation was a new idea in the early 1900s. Settlers in both valleys were beginning to water the desert. It soon became evident that much of the soil was very alkaline, and Dr. Swingle's travels had furnished the information that the date palm was a plant which could withstand alkali. Furthermore, Swingle noted that the date palm was 'peculiarly suited' to the hottest and most arid regions in the Southwestern States. The most intense heat, the excessive dryness of the air, the absence of all rainfall for months at a time during the growing season, and even the hot, dry winds were not drawbacks, but positive advantages to the date palm, enabling it to mature fruit of the highest excellence.
The plain of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, modern-day Iraq, where worship of the date palm originated, was known to its early dwellers as Edin, and it has been suggested that the Biblical story of the Garden of Eden was a version of Babylonian legends concerning the palm god.
Presumably the fruit of the earliest cultivars were inferior berries with large seeds and little flesh, but by the selection of the best seedlings for propagation, and then the planting of offshoots from the improved varieties, very desirable fruit was obtained. This selection process must have occurred before the dawn of written history, but by the time of Hammurabi (about 1958-1916 B.C.) palm growing was established on a sound basis as one of the principal agricultural occupations of Babylonia. The sixteenth paragraph of The Code of Hammurabi refers to the planting of orchards. It provides that if a man lease his garden to another to plant as an orchard, he shall let it without rent for four years, but in the fifth year the owner shall have half the fruit. Clearly then, as now, the young date trees did not bear a reasonably good crop until the fifth year.
Roy W. Nixon, Horticulturist with the United States Department of Agriculture and head of date research at the Government Date Station in Indio for many years, authored an article in 'Economic Botany' in 1951 which gives this account of the antiquity of date culture and the origin of the date palm.
"The date palm 'Phoenix dactylifera', was one of the first fruit trees to be domesticated. Insofar as present records go, credit for the accomplishment must be given to the Sumerians who were probably cultivating dates as early as 3000 B.C. About that time representations of the date palm, often with fruit, began to appear on pottery and cylinder seals, and within a few hundred years references in cuneiform recorded that date gardens had become very extensive, that a number of varieties were cultivated, and that the crop afforded one of the staple foods of the people."
"In Egypt it does not appear that date culture had become very important before the New Empire, or about the middle of the second millennium B.C., but the date palm was present, known and utilized at a much earlier period. Date palm logs were used to roof royal tombs as early as about 2700 B.C. The antiquity of the date palm in Egypt is further attested to by the fact that the words for 'sweet' and 'date' are identical. This suggests that by the time writing was invented the date was already known."
According to Nixon's article, date culture was not as important in the valley of the Indus, although undomesticated palms had been there for thousands of years. Introduction of cultivated varieties has been attributed to the soldiers of Alexander the Great in the 4th century B.C. and by others to the Moslem invasions at the beginning of the 8th century A.D. Nixon continues, "The great antiquity and extent of date culture around the Persian Gulf suggest that the date palm may have originated in that region. On the other hand, since the species has apparently existed from prehistoric times in the tropical and subtropical zone between the Indus and the Nile valleys, probably extending as far as Senegal, either it was originally native over much of this area or it was spread by prehistoric man. Favoring the greater antiquity of the species in the eastern end of this zone is the fact that the nearest relative of the date palm is 'Phoenix sylvestris', sometimes called the wild date, which is native to India and which is not easily distinguished botanically from 'Phoenix dactylifera'. It is the only other species of 'Phoenix' whose pollen applied to 'Phoenix dactylifera' has produced seed and fruit indistinguishable from those by pollinations with 'Phoenix dactylifera' pollen."
"The presence of uncultivated date palm throughout the zone where we find it at the dawn of history can be accounted for by the probability that over a period of several thousand years preceding cultivation of the date palm, prehistoric man utilized its fruit and thus greatly extended the area over which it originally occurred, aiding unconsciously in the evolution of better edible fruit. Dates are easily transported and seeds grow readily in moist soil in a favorable climate."
It can be said with some authority that the first strife and open warfare, following the gradual settlement of wandering tribesmen arose over the ownership of date gardens. The oasis dominated economic life and to be driven from the date gards, with their life-giving water and vital source of food was the worst calamity that could befall a tribe or family. Thus an unending series of raids and battles flared up around all of the more strategic date groves that marked the water holes in that desert country. So important to everyone, though, was the date palm, that conquering armies as well as bands of raiding Bedouins carefully avoided injuring them. To destroy a date palm bearing fruit was unthinkable. There was no 'scorched earth' policy here. Whoever might win the battle, the date palm trees remained, for upon them life itself always depended.
Date logs furnished crossbeams for ceilings and posts for structures. Whole leaves furnished thatch for roofs and from the leaflets came material for baskets and thread. The midribs furnished material for crates, furniture and fences. Date thorns were made into needles, pins and punches and leafbases were used for firewood. The fiber which encircles the trunk was used for cordage, mattresses and occasionally poor quality clothing. Ropes were manufactured from fruitstalks. Date seeds were ground and fed to camels and other stock and they were also used for necklaces and as a source of charcoal.
The indisputable foundation of the might of Assyria was based on their early control of the productive date gardens, interplanted with other types of fruit, vegetables and grain. The Assyrian soldier could remain in the field for months at a time without the necessity of maintaining lengthy supply lines, for his basic supplies accompanied him in the form of hundreds of beasts of burden, loaded with dried dates and other food, and herds of sheep and goats to provide milk, meat and clothing. Since these supply units were tended by the wives and children of the warriors, family life of a sort was maintained. Under these conditions a body of troops could remain absent from the home oasis for years at a time, living off the natural increase of their herds and the scattered date oasis through which they laid down their trails. The Prophet Mohammed, years later declared that dates and milk were a complete and nutritious diet.
This movement of Abraham constitutes one of the first purely tribal invasions on record. On the first stretch of their wanderings, Abraham's little band must have found very pleasant conditions as they pushed their flocks and herds along the old trail up the Euphrates River. There they could feast on dates and milk, while their ever increasing flocks fattened on the lush vegetation along the river bank. After they left Haran, however, and entered Palestine, it became a far different story. With constant warfare against the Hamitic tribes in a harsh land where water holes were few and stoutly defended, famine soon stalked the little tribe of Chaldeans. They were forced, according to the Bible account, to seek refuge down in Egypt where it happened there was a Semetic dynasty in temporary power - the celebrated 'Shepherd Kings'.
Abraham's journey from Ur of Chaldea to the land of Canaan
The cultivation of the date palm and the selection of improved cultivars clearly flourished first in the oasis along the Tigris and Euphrates River, then down along the Mediterranean to Egypt - the so-called Fertile Crescent. Phoenician trades, from the land ultimately called Palestine, carried dates to all of the lands bordering the Mediterranean. There are representations of date palms on Carthaginian money and in ancient graves in Spain and Portugal there is clear evidence that the date palm was established there. The climate is not well-suited to fruit production in Spain, but the palm itself appeared to have been venerated. Actually, the first date palms in the New World were grown from seeds carried from Spain by the missionaries who accompanied the Spaniards on their voyages of discovery and conquest.
The Greeks seem to have become aware of the date palm through the Phoenician traders and it is they who gave it its scientific name 'Phoenix' after the Phoenicians. Much later, as the followers of Mohammed spread across North Africa and into Spain, they planted date seeds at their various stopping places. Dates are widely used by the Moors as barter.
It is little wonder that the date palm, which contributed so much to the material needs of the early people who cultivated it, soon became known as a sacred tree. It ws not so much an object of worship as an object of fertility and bounty. To the Sumerians the date palm was a tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which later became well-known through the story of the Garden of Eden, traditionally located in Sumer. Veneration for the date palm became particularly marked among the Semitic people of the desert, who recognized their dependence upon it, and they eulogized it in their literature. To them, it was literally a 'tree of life'.
The unique practices connected with its culture made a deep impression on the minds of neighboring peoples and caused it to be adopted as a sacred tree among subsequent civilizations, even where date culture itself was not practiced. The date palm, with fruit hanging from the tree, was pictured prominently on the bas-reliefs of Assyria, north of the zone where date trees would produce fruit. The date palm was valued in ancient Greece for religious as well as ornamental purposes and the Romans adopted it as an emblem of victory. Palm leaves were presented to the victors of games and became a mark of royalty, woven into the robes of emperors. To the Hebrews, the date palm became a symbol of immortality, and when Rome became Christian, the idea was adopted by the early church and palm leaves began to be used in religious celebrations.
Of the 26 references to palms or dates in the Koran, 16 mention them as evidence of Allah's bounty. "How many a very tall palm will there be in Paradise!" the Prophet exclaimed. Continuing his admiration, he is said to have remarked, "The virtuous man is like a palm; he stands erect before his Lord; in every action he follows the impulse received from above; and his whole life is devoted to the welfare of his fellow creatures".
Small wonder that in the harsh desert lands of North Africa and the Middle East, the one tree which made life possible should be venerated!
