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Ucchesu M, Martinetto E, Sarigu M, Orrù M, Bornancin M, Bacchetta G. Morphological Characterization of Fossil Vitis L. Seeds from the Gelasian of Italy by Seed Image Analysis. PLANTS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2024; 13:1417. [PMID: 38794487 PMCID: PMC11125372 DOI: 10.3390/plants13101417] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2024] [Revised: 05/09/2024] [Accepted: 05/17/2024] [Indexed: 05/26/2024]
Abstract
The discovery of well-preserved fossil Vitis L. seeds from the Gelasian stage in Italy has provided a unique opportunity to investigate the systematics of fossilized Vitis species. Through seed image analyses and elliptical Fourier transforms of fossil Vitis seeds from the sites Buronzo-Gifflenga and Castelletto Cervo II, we pointed out a strong relationship to the group of extant Eurasian Vitis species. However, classification analyses highlighted challenges in accurately assigning the fossil grape seeds to specific modern species. Morphological comparisons with modern Vitis species revealed striking similarities between the fossil seeds and V. vinifera subsp. sylvestris, as well as several other wild species from Asia. This close morphological resemblance suggests the existence of a population of V. vinifera sensu lato in Northen Italy during the Gelasian. These findings contributed to our understanding of the evolution and the complex interplay between ancient and modern Vitis species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mariano Ucchesu
- Institute of Evolution Sciences of Montpellier (ISEM) UMR 5554, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, EPHE, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34090 Montpellier, France;
| | - Edoardo Martinetto
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Torino, Via Valperga Caluso 35, 10125 Torino, Italy; (E.M.); (M.B.)
| | - Marco Sarigu
- Centro Conservazione Biodiversità (CCB), Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell’Ambiente (DISVA), Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Viale Sant’Ignazio da Laconi, 13, 09123 Cagliari, Italy; (M.O.); (G.B.)
| | - Martino Orrù
- Centro Conservazione Biodiversità (CCB), Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell’Ambiente (DISVA), Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Viale Sant’Ignazio da Laconi, 13, 09123 Cagliari, Italy; (M.O.); (G.B.)
| | - Michela Bornancin
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Torino, Via Valperga Caluso 35, 10125 Torino, Italy; (E.M.); (M.B.)
| | - Gianluigi Bacchetta
- Centro Conservazione Biodiversità (CCB), Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell’Ambiente (DISVA), Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Viale Sant’Ignazio da Laconi, 13, 09123 Cagliari, Italy; (M.O.); (G.B.)
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Domic AI, VanDerwarker AM, Thakar HB, Hirth K, Capriles JM, Harper TK, Scheffler TE, Kistler L, Kennett DJ. Archaeobotanical evidence supports indigenous cucurbit long-term use in the Mesoamerican Neotropics. Sci Rep 2024; 14:10885. [PMID: 38740801 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-60723-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2023] [Accepted: 04/26/2024] [Indexed: 05/16/2024] Open
Abstract
The squash family (Cucurbitaceae) contains some of the most important crops cultivated worldwide and has played an important ecological, economic, and cultural role for millennia. In the American tropics, squashes were among the first cultivated crop species, but little is known about how their domestication unfolded. Here, we employ direct radiocarbon dating and morphological analyses of desiccated cucurbit seeds, rinds, and stems from El Gigante Rockshelter in Honduras to reconstruct human practices of selection and cultivation of Lagenaria siceraria, Cucurbita pepo, and Cucurbita moschata. Direct radiocarbon dating indicates that humans started using Lagenaria and wild Cucurbita starting ~ 10,950 calendar years before present (cal B.P.), primarily as watertight vessels and possibly as cooking and drinking containers. A rind directly dated to 11,150-10,765 cal B.P. represents the oldest known bottle gourd in the Americas. Domesticated C. moschata subsequently appeared ~ 4035 cal B.P., followed by domesticated C. pepo ~ 2190 cal B.P. associated with increasing evidence for their use as food crops. Multivariate statistical analysis of seed size and shape show that the archaeological C. pepo assemblage exhibits significant variability, representing at least three varieties: one similar to present-day zucchini, another like present-day vegetable marrow, and a native cultivar without modern analogs. Our archaeobotanical data supports the hypothesis that Indigenous cucurbit use started in the Early Holocene, and that agricultural complexity during the Late Holocene involved selective breeding that encouraged crop diversification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alejandra I Domic
- Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
- Department of Geosciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
| | - Amber M VanDerwarker
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
| | - Heather B Thakar
- Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA
| | - Kenneth Hirth
- Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA
| | - José M Capriles
- Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA
| | - Thomas K Harper
- Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA
| | | | - Logan Kistler
- Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Douglas J Kennett
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
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Breglia F, Bouby L, Wales N, Ivorra S, Fiorentino G. Disentangling the origins of viticulture in the western Mediterranean. Sci Rep 2023; 13:17284. [PMID: 37828091 PMCID: PMC10570292 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-44445-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2023] [Accepted: 10/08/2023] [Indexed: 10/14/2023] Open
Abstract
We present direct evidence of early grape domestication in southern Italy via a multidisciplinary study of pip assemblage from one site, shedding new light on the spread of viticulture in the western Mediterranean during the Bronze Age. This consist of 55 waterlogged pips from Grotta di Pertosa, a Middle Bronze Age settlement in the south of the Italian peninsula. Direct radiocarbon dating of pips was carried out, confirming the chronological consistency of the samples with their archaeological contexts (ca. 1450-1200 BCE). The extraordinary state of conservation of the sample allowed to perform geometric morphometric (GMM) and paleogenetic analyses (aDNA) at the same time. The combination of the two methods has irrefutably shown the presence of domestic grapevines, together with wild ones, in Southern Italy during the Middle/Late Bronze Age. The results converge towards an oriental origin of the domestic grapes, most likely arriving from the Aegean area through the Mycenaeans. A parent/offspring kinship was also recognised between a domestic/wild hybrid individual and a domestic clonal group. This data point out a little known aspect of the diffusion of the first viticulture in Italy, and therefore in the western Mediterranean, which involved the hybridization between imported domestic varieties with, likely local, wild vines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesco Breglia
- Department of Geosciences, University of Padua, 35131, Padua, Italy.
- Laboratory of Archaeobotany and Palaeoecology, Cultural Heritage Department, University of Salento, 73100, Lecce, Italy.
| | - Laurent Bouby
- Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution, University of Montpellier, 34095, Montpellier, France
| | - Nathan Wales
- Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, YO1 7EP, UK
| | - Sarah Ivorra
- Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution, University of Montpellier, 34095, Montpellier, France
| | - Girolamo Fiorentino
- Laboratory of Archaeobotany and Palaeoecology, Cultural Heritage Department, University of Salento, 73100, Lecce, Italy
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Szűgyi-Reiczigel Z, Ladányi M, Bisztray GD, Varga Z, Bodor-Pesti P. Morphological Traits Evaluated with Random Forest Method Explains Natural Classification of Grapevine ( Vitis vinifera L.) Cultivars. PLANTS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2022; 11:3428. [PMID: 36559539 PMCID: PMC9781146 DOI: 10.3390/plants11243428] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2022] [Revised: 12/01/2022] [Accepted: 12/06/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
There are hundreds of morphologic and morphometric traits available to classify and identify grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) genotypes, while statistical evaluation of those has certain limitations, especially when we have no information about the traits that are discriminative to a certain sample set. High numbers of investigated characters could cause redundancy, while reducing those numbers may result in data loss. Grapevine is one of the most important horticultural crops, with many cultivars in production. The characterization of the genotypes is of undeniably high importance. In this study, we analyzed a dataset of scientific and historical importance with 125 morphological traits of 97 grapevine cultivars described by Németh in 1966. However, the traits are not independent in a set of a large number of categorical traits with too few cultivars. Therefore, the number of traits was first reduced using a simple and effective algorithm to eliminate traits with redundant information content using the asymmetric measure of association Goodman and Kruskal's λ. We reduced the number of traits from 125 to 59 without any information loss. For the classification, we applied a random forest (RF) method. In this way, 93% of the cultivars were correctly classified using only four traits of the data set. To our knowledge, only a few studies applied a trait elimination algorithm similar to ours in ampelography that can be used for other biological data sets of similar structure. The classification results give a morphological explanation to several cultivars from the Carpathian Basin, a territory where all three Vitis vinifera L. geographical groups, occidentalis, orientalis and pontica, are represented. We found that the information-loss-avoiding data reduction method we applied in our study solved the redundancy-caused interdependencies and provided a suitable dataset for classifying grapevine genotypes. For example, this method may successfully be applied in digital image analysis-based traditional morphometric investigations in ampelography.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zsófia Szűgyi-Reiczigel
- Department of Applied Statistics, Institute of Mathematics and Basic Science, University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Villányi út 29-43, 1118 Budapest, Hungary
| | - Márta Ladányi
- Department of Applied Statistics, Institute of Mathematics and Basic Science, University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Villányi út 29-43, 1118 Budapest, Hungary
| | - György Dénes Bisztray
- Department of Viticulture, Institute for Viticulture and Oenology, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Villányi út 29-43, 1118 Budapest, Hungary
| | - Zsuzsanna Varga
- Department of Viticulture, Institute for Viticulture and Oenology, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Villányi út 29-43, 1118 Budapest, Hungary
| | - Péter Bodor-Pesti
- Department of Viticulture, Institute for Viticulture and Oenology, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Villányi út 29-43, 1118 Budapest, Hungary
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Abstract
The pip, as the most common grapevine archaeological remain, is extensively used to document past viticulture dynamics. This paper uses state of the art morphological analyses to analyse the largest reference collection of modern pips to date, representative of the present-day diversity of the domesticated grapevine from Western Eurasia. We tested for a costructure between the form of the modern pips and the: destination use (table/wine), geographical origins, and populational labels obtained through two molecular approaches. Significant structuring is demonstrated for each of these cofactors and for the first time it is possible to infer properties of varieties without going through the parallel with modern varieties. These results provide a unique tool that can be applied to archaeological pips in order to reconstruct the spatio-temporal dynamics of grape diversity on a large scale and to better understand viticulture history. The models obtained were then used to infer the affiliations with archaeobotanical remains recovered in Mas de Vignoles XIV (Nîmes, France). The results show a twofold shift between the Late Iron Age and the Middle Ages, from table to wine grape varieties and from eastern to western origins which correlates with previous palaeogenomic results.
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