The achievement of the objectives of the VITALY project were obtained through the morpho-geometric analysis of the archaeological grape pips and through the chemical analyzes of the ceramic vessels.
The use of different imaging techniques and morphometric methods in the analysis of modern and archaeological samples raises the question of what the best approach might be when examining pip morphology - especially when attempting to distinguish wild from domestic grape pips based on their traditional and geometric morphometric features. Our study is the first to examine different digital imaging techniques (i.e. digital camera vs. scanner) for such a purpose. Linear discriminant analysis revealed similar overall classification percentages for technical acquisitions and morphometric methods. With reference to archaeological grape pips, we analysed grape material from 28 waterlogged Italian archaeological contexts dated between the Early Neolithic and the Medieval period. To investigate the domestication status of archaeological grape pips, we used elliptical Fourier transforms and Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) to compare the archaeological items with a reference collection of modern materials (wild and domestic).
We first compared the archaeological seeds based on their chronology and the reference collection of modern materials from domestic and wild grapes. The LDA results showed that 95% of the grape seeds from the Early Neolithic site were classified as wild. One hundred percent of the seeds from the single Italian Early Bronze Age site were similarly classified. The seeds from four Middle Bronze Age contexts were classified as wild, with a percentage of 96.7%; the remaining 3.3% were classified as domestic. The seeds from three Late Bronze Age contexts were classified as 64% wild and 36% domestic. The seeds from the two Etruscan contexts (IV-II BC) were classified as 85% domestic and 15% wild. Of the seeds from the 11 sites of the Roman period, 44% were classified as wild and 56% as domestic. Finally, the seeds from six medieval contexts were classified as 83.5% domestic and 16.5% wild.
The morphological analysis carried out in each context showed that the attestation of the first Italian domestic grapes was to Sa Osa on Late-Bronze Age Sardinia; in the case of the Italian peninsula, the oldest attestation of the presence of domestic grapes was more recent, dating to the Etruscan period.
Chemical analysis of ceramic vessels and stone artifacts showed the presence of tartaric acid and fermentation markers relating to wine production. The relationship between syringic and tartaric acid supports the hypothesis that the wine in the vessels was produced from white grapes. The results suggest that the production and consumption of alcoholic beverages (e.g. wine) can be traced back to the Early Bronze Age and that the production of wine anticipates the introduction of domestic grape cultivation in Italy. The morpho-geometric analysis of the grape seeds indicates the presence of domestic grapes in Italy starting from the Late Bronze Age and chemical analysis indicates the production of wine since at least the Early Bronze Age; we did not find any evidence of domestic grapes. The hypothesis that prehistoric communities might have used wild grapes to produce small quantities of wine cannot be discarded.
The results of the project were presented at the 19th Conference of the IWGP in České Budějovice, in 2022 and on the occasion of La saga des cépage, Les Rencontres du Clos Vougeot 29 & 30 September 2022 Dijon – France. Furthermore, the results were presented in Italy at the international congress Caves in prehistory, in 2022, Nuxis - Sardinia and on the occasion of two seminars held at the University of Sassari and Cagliari in 2023.
