Ancient DNA from a lost Negev Highlands desert grape reveals a Late Antiquity wine lineage

TY - JOUR

T1 - Ancient DNA from a lost Negev Highlands desert grape reveals a Late Antiquity wine lineage

AU - Cohen, Pnina

AU - Bacilieri, Roberto

AU - Ramos-Madrigal, Jazmín

AU - Privman, Eyal

AU - Boaretto, Elisabetta

AU - Weber, Audrey

AU - Fuks, Daniel

AU - Weiss, Ehud

AU - Erickson-Gini, Tali

AU - Bucking, Scott

AU - Tepper, Yotam

AU - Cvikel, Deborah

AU - Schmidt, Joshua

AU - Gilbert, M. Thomas P.

AU - Wales, Nathan

AU - Bar-Oz, Guy

AU - Meiri, Meirav

N1 - © 2023 the Author(s).

PY - 2023/4/25

Y1 - 2023/4/25

N2 - Recent excavations of Late Antiquity settlements in the Negev Highlands of southern Israel uncovered a society that established commercial-scale viticulture in an arid environment [D. Fuks et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.117, 19780-19791 (2020)]. We applied target-enriched genome-wide sequencing and radiocarbon dating to examine grapevine pips that were excavated at three of these sites. Our analyses revealed centuries long and continuous grape cultivation in the Southern Levant. The genetically diverse pips also provided clues to ancient cultivation strategies aimed at improving agricultural productivity and ensuring food security. Applying genomic prediction analysis, a pip dated to the eighth century CE was determined to likely be from a white grape, to date the oldest to be identified. In a kinship analysis, another pip was found to be descendant from a modern Greek cultivar and was thus linked with several popular historic wines that were once traded across the Byzantine Empire. These findings shed light on historical Byzantine trading networks and on the genetic contribution of Levantine varieties to the classic Aegean landscape.

AB - Recent excavations of Late Antiquity settlements in the Negev Highlands of southern Israel uncovered a society that established commercial-scale viticulture in an arid environment [D. Fuks et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.117, 19780-19791 (2020)]. We applied target-enriched genome-wide sequencing and radiocarbon dating to examine grapevine pips that were excavated at three of these sites. Our analyses revealed centuries long and continuous grape cultivation in the Southern Levant. The genetically diverse pips also provided clues to ancient cultivation strategies aimed at improving agricultural productivity and ensuring food security. Applying genomic prediction analysis, a pip dated to the eighth century CE was determined to likely be from a white grape, to date the oldest to be identified. In a kinship analysis, another pip was found to be descendant from a modern Greek cultivar and was thus linked with several popular historic wines that were once traded across the Byzantine Empire. These findings shed light on historical Byzantine trading networks and on the genetic contribution of Levantine varieties to the classic Aegean landscape.

KW - ancient DNA

KW - archaeobotany

KW - Late Antiquity

KW - Negev Highlands

KW - viticulture

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85152671708&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1073/pnas.2213563120

DO - 10.1073/pnas.2213563120

M3 - Article

C2 - 37068234

AN - SCOPUS:85152671708

SN - 0027-8424

VL - 120

JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

IS - 17

M1 - e2213563120

ER -