Seed morphology uncovers 1500 years of vine agrobiodiversity before the advent of the Champagne wine

Abstract

A crucial aspect of viticulture is finally unveiled as the historical dynamics of its agrobiodiversity are described in the Champagne region for the first time. Outline analyses were carried out to compare the morphology of archaeological grape seeds from Troyes and Reims (first c. AD to fifteenth c. AD) with that of a reference collection of modern seeds, including wild vines and traditional grape varieties, believed to be ancient and characteristic of the French vine heritage. This allows us to document the chronological dynamics of the use of the wild Vitis type and of the diversity of the varieties used, based on morphological disparity. After showing the existence of morphological types corresponding to geographical groups, we highlight a geochronological dynamic. Our results show that the wild type is used throughout the series, up to the Middle Ages. In addition, domestic forms, morphologically related to southern varietal groups, are very early involved in the Champagne grape agrodiversity. The groups corresponding to the typical grape varieties of today do not appear until the second millennium. These previously unsuspected dynamics are discussed in light of the social, societal and climatic changes documented for the period.

The Shape Diversity of Olive Stones Resulting from Domestication and Diversification Unveils Traits of the Oldest Known 6500-Years-Old Table Olives from Hishuley Carmel Site (Israel)

“…The quantification of shapes by means of mathematical and statistical approaches is both descriptive and decisional by providing very efficient biosystematic criteria. Regarding grapevine, the validation of geometric morphometric results related to the history and identity of Roman French grape varieties [44] using palaeogenomics [58] has illustrated the level of resolution achieved by shape analysis, which is often at the infraspecific level [59]. Measuring the phenotype also means integrating genotype expression through the filter of development.…”

“…Morphotype 1 (MT1) corresponds to round-shaped stones, a simple and minimalist morphology that is also found in other wild relatives or ancestors of cultivated perennial species such as grapevine (Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris) [44,45,59,64] or the palm genus (Phoenix spp.) [60,61,65].…”

Pip shape echoes grapevine domestication history

“…While indirect, both in origin and signature, pip shape is informative about variety origins and use. Shape is also often the only exploitable datum on archaeological remains, and these results are therefore of prime interest to help us better understand grapevine agrobiodiversity through both time and space 16 , 17 , 21 .…”

“…Archaeobotanical inference is mostly actualistic: insights obtained from modern material generate inferences for archaeological remains. So far, the shape of pips has been used to distinguish between wild and domesticated types 15 , 16 , 22 and, more recently, to identify domesticated morphotypes that correlate with modern varieties 17 , 21 . The identification of similar modern varieties amongst a diverse subset can be used to make infraspecific conclusions if their properties are compared to those of the already identified varieties 21 , 51 .…”

Seed Morphology in Key Spanish Grapevine Cultivars

“…The geometrical analysis of seed shape based on elliptical Fourier transform method has revealed useful in the discrimination of wild grapes and cultivars in agreement with results from microsatellites (SSRs), as well as to associate archaeological seeds with wild forms or other morpho-clades [19][20][21]. New developments of these techniques have included 3D scanning technology [22] allowing to discriminate between cultivars classified as identical by their SSR profiles, and the geochronological dynamics of the cultivars used in viticulture [23]. The groups obtained in these analyses may be associated with geometric figures representing graphically the morphological diversity of grape seeds and their relatedness to geometric forms.…”