Grape-pressings from northern Greece: the earliest wine in the Aegean?

Valamoti, Soultana Maria; Mangafa, Maria; Koukouli-Chrysanthaki, Ch.; Malamidou, Dimitra

doi:10.1017/s0003598x00094837

Cited by 79 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…of the same area in which the pressing platform was excavated, provides compelling evidence that the latter was used for grapes (12). Masses of grape remains often point to grape pressing and stomping for winemaking (13). By contrast, no olive pits were found near the platform.…”

Section: Archaeobotanical Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Beginning of viniculture in France

McGovern

Luley

Rovira

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Chemical analyses of ancient organic compounds absorbed into the pottery fabrics of imported Etruscan amphoras ( ca. 500–475 B.C.) and into a limestone pressing platform ( ca. 425–400 B.C.) at the ancient coastal port site of Lattara in southern France provide the earliest biomolecular archaeological evidence for grape wine and viniculture from this country, which is crucial to the later history of wine in Europe and the rest of the world. The data support the hypothesis that export of wine by ship from Etruria in central Italy to southern Mediterranean France fueled an ever-growing market and interest in wine there, which, in turn, as evidenced by the winepress, led to transplantation of the Eurasian grapevine and the beginning of a Celtic industry in France. Herbal and pine resin additives to the Etruscan wine point to the medicinal role of wine in antiquity, as well as a means of preserving it during marine transport.

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Section: Archaeobotanical Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Beginning of viniculture in France

McGovern

Luley

Rovira

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…This is the case of the chemical analyses of dried residues found in ceramic vessels regarded as evidence of wine making at Shulaveri-Gora (Georgia), during the 6 th millennium BCE [5], at Hajji Firuz Tepe, in the Northern Zagros mountains of Iran, ca 5500-5000 BCE [26] and at Areni Cave, in South-Eastern Armenia, ca 4000 BCE [27]. Remarkably, clear archaeobotanical evidence for the extraction of grape juice is also available in Dikili Tash, Northern Greece, ca 4450-4000 BCE [28]. However, as all these sites are located within the modern distribution range of the wild grapevine, this evidence cannot be considered as proof of domestication or even cultivation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bioarchaeological Insights into the Process of Domestication of Grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) during Roman Times in Southern France

et al. 2013

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Grapevine (Vitis vinifera), one of the most important fruit species in the Classical Mediterranean world, is thought to have been domesticated first in South-Western Asia, during the Neolithic. However, the domestication process remains largely unknown. Crucial unanswered questions concern the duration of the process (rapid or slow?) and the related geographical area (single or multiple-origins?). Seeds from domesticated grapevine and from its wild ancestor are reported to differ according to shape. Our work aims, first, to confirm this difference and secondly to identify the extent of domestication in the grapes cultivated by Romans in Southern France during the period 50 BCE–500 CE. We had the opportunity to analyze uncharred waterlogged grape pips from 17 archaeological sites. Based on an extended reference sample of modern wild grapevines and cultivars our work shows that both subspecies can be discriminated using simple measurements. The elongation gradient of the pip’s body and stalk may be regarded as an indicator of the strength of the selection pressures undergone by domesticated grapes. Grapevines cultivated during the Roman period included a mix of morphotypes comprising wild, intermediate and moderately selected domesticated forms. Our data point to a relative shift towards more selected types during the Roman period. Domestication of the grapevine appears to have been a slow process. This could result from the recurrent incorporation into cultivation of plants originating from sexual reproduction, when grape cultivation essentially relies on vegetative propagation.

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“…Archaeological records indicate that wine was made ca. 6000 BCE in Georgia, 5400-5000 BCE in Persia, and 4460-4000 BCE in Armenia and Greece (Cavalieri et al 2003, McGovern 2003, Miller 2008, Owen 2011, Stevenson 2011, Valamoti 2007. Mead was made even before wine in some places, being known in China at ca.…”

Section: Naming Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

Sambucus—Intercultural exchange and evolution

Austin

2012

Ethnobot. Res. App.

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Ethnobotany Research & Applications 10:213-234 (2012)lorum cantum frutex ille non exaudiat" (the shepherds believe a more resounding buccin and war-trumpet can be made from the elder tree if this shrub could be cut down where it cannot hear the roosters crowing).Moreover, religious beliefs about the plants span societies from Ireland through Europe and Asia to the Americas (e.g., Anderson 1845, Austin 2004:594, de Cleene and Lejeune 2002, Grimm & Grimm 1812, Moerman 1998:511-515, Ó Giolláin 1984, Vickery 1995. Sambucus is also part of the pharmacopoeia of all who live where it grows, but the plants figure prominently in other aspects of human existence. The plants have provided food, drink, wood, musical instruments, and otherwise enriched and enlivened lives since at least 1500 BCE. Sambucus, called "elder" or "elder-berry" in English, has many names in other languages and the very words we apply to them have complicated, inter-related histories reflecting human views of the plants. Sambucus-Intercultural exchange and evolution Daniel F. Austin Research AbstractThe plants of the genus Sambucus, called elder or elderberry in English, have been associated with major and minor deities longer than history records. In contrast to gods and goddesses, other applications of sambucus are made in more secular ways. Sambucus and its variants have been applied to five entities-plants, a musical instrument (sambuca, from ‫ָא‬ ‫,שׂבּב‬ sabb e kā'), a military device (sambuca, from σαμβύκῆ, sambykē), a sailing vessel (sambuq, sanbuq, from ‫,)زنبق‬ and a liquor (sambuca). Each of these connotations is separated, some slightly and others markedly, from the others by fragmented historical records. While the most ancient application known is for the musical instrument, the designation of a plant is not much, if any, younger. The war machine is almost the same age as the plant tradition. Considerably more recent are the labels of a ship and alcoholic drink. This synopsis puts these records together to reveal a history of intercultural exchange and the evolution of terminology.

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Grape-pressings from northern Greece: the earliest wine in the Aegean?

Cited by 79 publications

References 11 publications

Beginning of viniculture in France

Beginning of viniculture in France

Bioarchaeological Insights into the Process of Domestication of Grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) during Roman Times in Southern France

Sambucus—Intercultural exchange and evolution

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