Dates have been a staple food of the Middle East and the Indus Valley for thousands of years. According to some sources, they are native to the Persian Gulf area while others believe that they have been derived from the wild or date-sugar palm of western India. There is archaeological evidence of date cultivation in Mehrgarh around 7000 BCE, a Neolithic civilization in what is now western Pakistan, and in eastern Arabia between 5530 and 5320 calBC. and have been cultivated since ancient times from Mesopotamia to prehistoric Egypt. The ancient Egyptians used the fruits to make date wine, and ate them at harvest. Evidence of cultivation is continually found throughout later civilizations in the Indus Valley, including the Harappan period of 2600 to 1900 BCE. The ancient Hebrews made the fruit into wine, vinegar, bread, and cakes, also using the fruit stones to fatten livestock and the wood to make utensils.