Pip shape echoes the origins and history of modern grapevine diversity (Vitis vinifera L.)
Vincent Bonhomme  1@  , Laurent Bouby  1@  , Roberto Bacilieri  2@  , Thierry Lacombe  2@  , Jean-Frédéric Terral  1@  
1 : Institut des Sciences de l'Évolution de Montpellier  (ISEM)  -  Website
Université de Montpellier, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique : UMR5554
Place E. Bataillon CC 064 34095 Montpellier Cedex 05 -  France
2 : Amélioration génétique et adaptation des plantes méditerranéennes et tropicales  (UMR AGAP)  -  Website
Institut national de la recherche agronomique [Montpellier], Centre international d'études supérieures en sciences agronomiques, Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement, Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier
Montpellier -  France

Since the Iron Age, grape cultivation became a central aspect of French culture, economy and geopolitics. From an ecological point of view it also deeply shaped agricultural, ecosystem and landscape dynamics. The structure and identity of modern French wine regions started to take form during the first centuries A.D. and were maintained since then. Even if many aspects of ancient wine production are nowadays well documented archaeologically, little is known about the cultivated grape itself: what are the biological, geographical and chronological origins of modern grape varieties, or “cépages” still remain unclear and very little is known if and how they were assembled to produce wine in the different regions. Archaeological excavations provide large number of grape pips, relatively well preserved, due to waterlogged conditions in some structures. Morphometrics, the quantitative description of shape, helps to characterize these ancient pips sampled from different sites and periods, comparing them to reference collections of modern pips of both wild and domesticated grapes. We first explore the shape diversity of modern Vitis vinifera seeds in relation to subspecies (wild vs. domesticated), main uses of grapes, geographic origin and various phenotypic and genetic characteristics of varieties. The comparison of ancient to modern morphotypes brings evidence of the cultivation of an important, and unsuspected, varietal diversity in southern Gaul which seems to occur even at the scale of the individual site. For early times of wine production in Gaul, some pips present a wild morphotype. The evolution of “domesticated” morphotypes are quantified in time and space.


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