The distributions of wild areca species in Sulawesi and the surrounding region suggest that the island had native populations of Areca-related plants that the ancient foragers would have encountered as part of their landscape.

Whether the specific nut they were using was a direct wild ancestor of Areca catechu or a related wild species is not established from the current evidence.

The key point is that the relationship between humans and areca palms in Sulawesi is very old — old enough that it was part of the behavioral repertoire of Ice Age foragers long before the plant was ever cultivated.

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