History and Culture of Hard Shell Gourds

The gourd plant has been described as one of nature’s greatest gifts to mankind. Of all the known plants, the gourd is the only one experts believe spanned the entire globe in prehistoric times. It appears as one of the first cultivated plants in regions throughout the world and was used by every known culture in the Temperate and Tropical zones.

The very earliest gourd specimens are seeds and fragments that were unearthed in Ayacucho, Peru dating from 10,000 BC, Ocampo Caves in Mexico from 10,000 – 7,000 BC, and just recently Gainsville, Florida dating back to 11, 000 BC. In Florida; one intact gourd was found dating back to 6,000 BC.

Botanists believe that hard shell gourds originated in Africa. Research conducted in California in 1954 suggests that gourds drifted in oceanic currents to various landfalls in the Western Hemisphere where they were growing long before humans began to arrive around 12,000 BC.

Evidence from Florida and Ocampo Caves in Mexico indicate that gourds were used as containers long before baskets or pottery served that purpose. The most common use of gourds in all cultures was as containers and vessels.

Because gourds played such an essential role in the daily life, mystical properties were assigned to them by medicine man, shaman, Huichol Indians of Mexico, and, in China they were viewed having a power of a crystal ball.

Gourds became a decorative item in homes throughout the world. The invention of plastic and metal pushed the gourd image away for the time. Because of strong historical features, the hard shell gourds are experiencing a revival and gaining a renewed interest throughout the world. The artists working on gourds with their own artistic images may relate to the excitement of early ancestors when they decorated the humble gourd.

Research by Emily Brinac, Gourd Artist