[[File:Watermelon and melon in India.jpg|thumb|right|Watermelon and melon in India]]
Melons were thought to have originated in Africa,<ref>{{Cite book|title=The new Oxford book of food plants|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0-19-954946-7|pages=134}}</ref> orhowever, inrecent thestudies hotsuggest valleys ofa [[Southwest Asia]]n origin, especially [[Iran]] and [[India]],<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Raghami|first1=Mahmoud|last2=López-Sesé|first2=Ana Isabel|last3=Hasandokht|first3=Mohamad Reza|last4=Zamani|first4=Zabihollah|last5=Moghadam|first5=Mahmoud Reza Fattahi|last6=Kashi|first6=Abdolkarim|date=2014-01-01|title=Genetic diversity among melon accessions from Iran and their relationships with melon germplasm of diverse origins using microsatellite markers|journal=Plant Systematics and Evolution|language=en|volume=300|issue=1|pages=139–151|doi=10.1007/s00606-013-0866-y|issn=1615-6110|quote=Melons or muskmelon are native to Iran and adjacent countries toward the west and east. In fact, ‘Musk’ is a Persian word for a kind of perfume and ‘melon’ is derived from Greek words (Robinson and Decker-Walters 1997). The origin of diversity for melon was traditionally believed to be in Africa (Robinson and Decker-Walters 1997), although recent molecular systematic studies, suggested that it may be originated from Asia and then reached to Africa (Renner et al. 2007). Central Asia, Iran, Afghanistan, India, Transcaucasia, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, as well as Afghanistan and China (Robinson and Decker-Walters 1997) are considered primary diversity centre for melon (Tzitzikas et al. 2009).Two formal infraspecific taxa within C. melo were recognized by Kirkbri|doi-access=free|bibcode=2014PSyEv.300..139R }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://byf.unl.edu/Melon|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120403223315/http://byf.unl.edu/Melon|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-04-03|title=Growing Melons|date=2012-04-03|access-date=2019-05-25|quote=Melons are believed to have originated in the hot valleys of southwest Asia—specifically Iran (Persia) and India.}}</ref> from where they gradually began to appear in [[Europe]] toward the end of the [[Western Roman Empire]]. Melons are known to have been grown by the ancient Egyptians. However, recent discoveries of melon seeds dated between 1350 and 1120 [[BCE]] in Nuragic sacred wells have shown that melons were first brought to Europe by the [[Nuragic civilization]] of Sardinia during the [[Bronze Age]].<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search.do?recordID=US201500186050|title=Archaeobotanical analysis of a Bronze Age well from Sardinia: A wealth of knowledge|first1=Sabato|last1=D.|first2=Masi|last2=A.|first3=Pepe|last3=C.|first4=Ucchesu|last4=M.|first5=Peña-Chocarro|last5=L.|first6=Usai|last6=A.|first7=Giachi|last7=G.|first8=Capretti|last8=C.|first9=Bacchetta|last9=G.|date=16 May 2017|journal=Plant Biosystems|access-date=1 November 2015|archive-date=5 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305011633/http://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search.do?recordID=US201500186050|url-status=live}}</ref> Melons were among the earliest plants to be domesticated in the [[Old World]] and among the first crop species brought by westerners to the [[New World]].<ref>{{cite journal
