A fair question to ask is why the Egyptians began cultivating wild watermelons in the first place. The fruit was hard and unappetizing, tasting either bitter or bland. Yet somebody at some point said, “Hey, let’s grow more of these!”

The answer, according to Paris, is in the fruit’s name: water. Unlike other fruits, watermelons could remain edible for weeks or even months if kept in a cool, shaded area. A National Geographic correspondent visiting Sudan in 1924 saw watermelons being collected and stored this way during the dry season, when they would be periodically pummeled to extract their water.

Paris believes the Egyptians were drawn to the fruit for the same reason. And, he adds, it’s why we find remnants of watermelons in tombs, “These Egyptian pharaohs, when they died they had a long journey ahead of them so they needed a source of water—and what would that source of water be?” says Paris.

Once the Egyptians began cultivating watermelons, Paris suspects the first trait they sought to change was the taste. Just one dominant gene was responsible for the bitter flavor, so it would have been relatively easy to breed it out of the population.