Morphology and Molecular Analysis of Ancient Grape Seeds

Geometric Morphometry and Archaeobotany: Characterisation of Grape Seeds (<i>Vitis vinifera</i> L.) by Analysis of Form

“…Analysis of the form of archaeological and modern seeds was conducted analysing the frontal external profile of all specimens as described by [5]. The number of seeds analysed was 813 and they consisted of Tuscan archaeological seeds [Firenze (43˚768591'N, 11˚254714'E, 13th century AD, seven seeds), Miranduolo castle (43˚120348'N, 11˚079410'E, 11th century AD, six seeds), Poggio Bacherina (43˚039420'N, 11˚815203'E, 2nd century BC, twenty seeds), Poggio la Croce (43˚39'45.25"N, 11˚23'45.25"E, 6th century BC, four seeds)], Iranian seeds [Shahr-i Sokhta (30˚6500003'N, 61˚399999'E, 23rd century BC, four seeds)] and modern Tuscan seeds [70 seeds per cultivar: Sangiovese Casciano, Sangiovese Montalcino, Cabernet Bossi, Merlot Bossi, Canaiolo Monti in Chianti, Canaiolo Montalbuccio, Trebbiano Montalbuccio, Trebbiano Tognazza, Malvasia Monti in Chianti, Albano Montalbuccio and Silvestris (selected in September 2013 in the Mediterranean bioclimatic area between 43˚02' -43˚25'N and 11˚25' -11˚28'E)].…”

Digital seed morphometry for genotype identification – Case study of seeds of excavated (15th century Hungary) and current vinegrape (Vitis v. vinifera) varieties

“…2) of our study grouped all archaeological samples in one cluster. Archaeological seed samples were also grouped in one cluster in the study of (Milanesi et al 2011), which data may indicate a general seed shrinking of the archaeological seed samples, however ratios of shape parameters may persists at lower levels.…”

“…Derived seed parameters also were formulated, e.g. seed width divided by seed length (Stummer 1911), size ratios of seed parameters (Mangafa and Kotsakis 1996), and elliptic Fourier transformation (Milanesi et al 2011, Terral et al 2010. All these measurements provided huge data for Vitis taxonomy, and became useful for identification of excavated seed remains (Gyulai et al 2011a, b, Milanesi et al 2011, Orrù et al 2013.…”