Panel 3.5 – A. Making Wine in Western-Mediterranean B. Production and the Trade of Amphorae: Some New Data from Italy


Organiser/Chair:

  • Jean-Pierre Brun (Collège de France)
  • Nicolas Garnier (SAS Laboratoire N. Garnier / Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris AOROC)
  • Gloria Olcese (Sapienza, Università di Roma)

External Discussant:

  • David Mattingly (University of Leicester)

Speakers:

Panel abstract

“Wine Production and Trade in the Western Mediterranean during Antiquity: New archaeological, archaeometric, archaeobotanical and biomolecular research on an economic indicator”

The goal of this session is to present both new data and current projects on viticulture in antiquity, on the production and circulation of wine, and on the containers that held the wine. These containers have been recently recovered in the western Mediterranean, thanks to interlinking, multidisciplinary research, involving archaeological, archaeometric, archaeobotanical and molecular-archaeological methods.

The focus of our investigation is Italy, in relation to areas of comparison (Spain, North Africa), with the intent to deepen our knowledge of the transformations to the agricultural landscape in certain sample areas. We also aim to focus attention on wine production facilities, which have until now remained under-studied (such as rock cuts); and moreover we intend to focus on the Mediterranean distribution of amphorae which, as the primary containers of the drink, played an important role in religious, funerary, economic and social life in Antiquity.

The advancement of technical knowledge is gradually solving the old question of differentiating between wine and olive oil production facilities. We knew that the same presses were used for both products and henceforth the identification would be based on other markers such as the presence or absence of oil mills or tanks connected by overflows. But now, systematic water sieving can turn up olive stones or grape seeds, and biochemical analyses in gas chromatography or liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry now provide very reliable results.

A new synthesis on amphorae and production centers is needed, because the rapid evolution of the methods of analysis and their expansion allow both some certainty about contents (sometimes multiple) and even details concerning the type of wine (red or white).

The second part of the session will present some new data related to the production and distribution of wine amphorae - coming from the Tyrrhenian coast of Italy, Spain and Africa - in Italy and the western Mediterranean, the study of which was also carried out using laboratory methods.”

Paper abstracts

A) Making Wine in Western-Mediterranean

1. Jean-Pierre Brun (Collège de France)

From oil to wine? A balanced view on the production of the most emblematic agricultural products of Antiquity
Olive oil and wine, considered as two emblematic agricultural products during Antiquity, have been overvalued in archaeological studies because their production and trade leave perennial archaeological remains such as presses, vats, jars and amphorae. For a long time, presses were chiefly attributed to olive oil. Progress in research has now established a more balanced view: in the northern part of the western Mediterranean, presses are mainly concerned with wine production as assured by biochemical analyses and carpology. For trade, advances in amphorae typology the multiplication of mineralogical and biochemical analyses restore a more accurate picture of the regional evolution of wine production and trade. Further progress can be made: much of the wine production of wine still escapes archaeology. Domestic production is difficult to retrace because installations are often made of organic materials; large proportion of the local commercial production, which was often made with palmenti or any uncharacteristic devices and was marketed in skin containers. In some regions, such as Cisalpina, Lusitania, Aquitania, etc., wine was produced and marketed in wooden vats and barrels. Thanks to recent progress, we are in a position not only to clarify our knowledge, but also to detect our shortcomings. We also know that it will not be possible to fill some gaps, even by multiplying the angles of analysis, but delimiting them is also an enormous advance in historical knowledge.

"From Oil to Wine? A Balanced View on the Production of the Most Representative Agricultural Products of Antiquity" (Fulltext)

 

2. Gabriella De Lorenzis (Università degli studi di Milano) / Francesco Mercati (CNR - Italian National Research Council) / Carlo Bergamini and Maria Francesca Cardone (Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l’analisi dell’economia agraria - CREA) / Maria Gabriella Barbagallo (University of Palermo) / Francesco Sunseri (Università degli studi Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria) / Osvaldo Failla (University of Milan)

Genomic tools to reconstruct the grapevine domestication and evolution in the western Mediterranean basin
The Western Mediterranean Sea Basin is a main centre for viniculture diffusion and grapevines domestication, due to its historical importance during the Centuries, strongly influenced by Greek colonization. Sicilia and Southern Italian regions played a key role in the introduction of the wine culture and viniculture techniques in Italy from Greece. A large germplasm collection of grapevine accessions (195) coming from the South of Italy, Greece and neighboring countries have been genotyped by Vitis18kSNP chip array to investigate genetic diversity, population structure and parentage. The SNP profiles differentiated 169 unique genotypes with the higher number of synonymies detected among Italian regions. Cluster analyses identified high genetic similarity values (100-83%) and there was not detected a grouping based on the geographic origin, even though the Greek samples appeared closer related to neighboring country accessions than the Italian ones. Multivariate analysis highlighted an overlapping among the genotypes coming from the different geographical regions, as well as, structure analysis showed a high number of admixed samples. Parentage analysis identified that two Italian cultivars performed a role in the evolution of the grapevine genetic pool in the South of Italy. Genetic results highlighted the common genetic origin of these genetic resources and appeared to reflect the historical and geographical background of this area.

"Genomic Tools to Reconstruct the Grapevine Domestication and Evolution in the Western Mediterranean Basin" (Fulltext)

 

3. Laurent Bouby (1), Jazmín Ramos-Madrigal (2), Anne Kathrine Wiborg Runge (2), Thierry Lacombe (3), Vincent Bonhomme (1), Sarah Ivorra (1), José Alfredo Samaniego Castruita (2), Roberto Bacilieri (3), M. Thomas P. Gilbert (2), Jean-Frédéric Terral (1), Nathan Wales (2 & 4)

Cultivated grapes in Roman Gaul. Archaeobotanical data
1 - ISEM UMR 5554, CNRS, Montpellier University
2 - Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen
3 - UMR AGAP, Univ Montpellier, CIRAD, INRA, Montpellier SupAgro, Montpellier
4 - UMR AMIS, CNRS, Université Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier

Grape cultivation was a highly important activity in the southern areas of Roman Gaul. Many aspects of wine production are nowadays well documented by archaeology. However, little is known about the cultivated grape itself. Latin writers, such as Columella and Pliny the Elder, provided extensive information about the different types of grapes known during their time. Confronting this information with that concerning the modern diversity of grape vines can help us draw new information from ancient texts. But it is still impossible neither to identify specific varieties nor to know which were cultivated in southern Gaul.

Archaeological excavations provide significant numbers of well-preserved grape pips, due to waterlogged conditions in some structures. Morphometric and palaeogenomic analyses were carried out on samples of pips from several Roman sites. Morphometrics characterized the shape of ancient pips and helped compare them to reference collections of modern pips of wild and domesticated grapes (Terral et al. 2010). A new palaeogenomic approach, based on targeted-high-throughput sequencing of ten thousand Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms, explored identities and genetic relationships of grape cultivars across times, by assembling a dataset of ancient and modern samples (Ramos-Madrigal et al. submitted).

The combined results from these independent approaches bring evidence of the cultivation of an important varietal diversity in southern Gaul. This diversity seems to occur even at the scale of the individual farming site. In each site, some pips display characters typical of the wild morphotype. The significance of this result in the framework of the Roman viticulture will be discussed. Ancient DNA brings evidence of the use of clonal propagation of varieties and that several Roman samples held parent-offspring relationships with varieties grown today in Alpine regions.

"Investigating the Grape Varieties Cultivated by the Romans in Southern Gaul through Geometric Morphometrics and Palaeogenomics" (Fulltext)

 

4. Gloria Olcese (Sapienza Università di Roma) / Nicolas Garnier (Laboratoire Nicolas Garnier) / Andrea Razza and Domenico Michele Surace (Sapienza Università di Roma)

Multidisciplinary Research on Wine Production in Southern Italy: Rock-Cut Units (“palmenti”) and Organic Residues in Economic-Historical Context
Up to now, studies on wine production have covered archaeological evidence, such as presses, vats and storage rooms in farms, or containers such as amphorae and dolia, but only a few studies have also considered rock-cut units (“palmenti”). The project “Fare il vino nell’Italia antica: i palmenti rupestri” aims to produce more detailed studies on these important structures through the use of a multidisciplinary methodology. These studies will focus on the Tyrrhenian coast of Italy.
The project intends to generate, through a morphological comparison of the structures, a first hypothesis about the development of these units over time, and to categorize the unites based on the substances produced in them (wine or oil). Another purpose is to determine whether any relationship existed between local ceramics workshops and the wineries, with the aim of reconstructing the dynamics of the wine industry.
Innovative laboratory methods will allow us to identify any markers of substances absorbed into the sides of the vats. Biochemical analysis clearly shows the presence of markers of grapes (tartaric and malic acids) and of alcoholic fermentation (malonic, maleic, succinic, fumaric, and pyruvic acids). The analysis of eight palmenti has shown the application of pitch (in Etruria) or resin (in Campania) for waterproofing the vats, and that the basins have been used not only for the transformation of grape into must, but also into wine.

"Ricerche multidisciplinari sui palmenti rupestri nell’Italia meridionale tirrenica" (Fulltext)

 

5. Anna Depalmas (Università di Sassari) / Cinzia Loi (Ispettore Onorario SABAP-CA) / Alessandra Pecci (Universitat de Barcelona) / Nicolas Garnier (Laboratoire Nicolas Garnier) / Alessandro Usai (SABAP per la città metropolitana di Cagliari e le province di Oristano e del Sud Sardegna)

Wine in Sardinia. New archaeological data and research methodology
Wine is an important drink in the history of Sardinia.
Recent research has allowed to date back of the introduction of wine production and consumption in the region.
The combination of botanical finds and chemical residues allows to suggest the production and consumption of wine already from the Middle Bronze Age. 
The Bronze Age settlement of Sa Osa, is one of the few Sardinian archaeological sites, which allows us to reconstruct a complete picture on the development of the exploitation of natural resources, agricultural technologies, as wine’s production.
The grape seeds found at Duos Nuraghes at the Final Bronze Age level are the squat type with short stalks which are characteristic of Vitis vinifera L. var. sylvestris. Discoveries at Genna Maria indicate that in the Early Iron Age there were cultivated as well as wild species.
The stone presses constitute a fundamental element of the agricultural production process and they are of significant interest due to their historical and archaeological value.
Those that have survived often have missing parts and are deprived of their original context in the landscape; therefore, it is difficult to interpret their typology and age. However, they represent an interesting feature that could be related to ancient wine production. A total of 150 fixed rural wine-presses have been found and 50 movable containers, suggesting the widespreading of wine production for a long period of time, that needs further investigation.

"Wine in Sardinia. New Archaeological Data and Research Methodology" (Fulltext)

 

6. Yolanda Peña Cervantes (National University of Distance Education, UNED)

Wine production in the Iberian Peninsula in the Roman period: Archaelogy, Archaebotany and Biochemical Analysis
In this session, we will analyse the production of wine in Hispania up from the data that have been supplied by recent archaeological excavations, where archaeobotanical and biochemical analyzing methods have been applied. The increasing implementation in the use of this kind of analysis in Spain and Portugal has allowed us to determine the functional orientation of the great number of press facilities, and to provide new and interesting information about the techniques that were used in the process of wine production and fermentation in this Roman province. With these new analyzing techniques, we can detect new areas of wine production in central Peninsula and Northern Lusitania and to recognize a better study of models of production in the regions where wine has been traditionally manufactured, such as coastal Tarraconensis or the Baetica province. In this presentation, the introduction of similar data obtained from the areas or Italy, Northern Africa and Gallia will enable us to create a comparative frame between the economic trends of the Western provinces of the Empire, where wine was a key product in ancient economy.

"Wine Making in the Iberian Peninsula during the Roman Period: Archaeology, Archaeobotany and Biochemical Analysis" (Fulltext)

 

7. Maxine Anastasi and Nicholas Vella (University of Malta)

From Vine to vat and beyond: The case of ancient Malta
It has been widely accepted that small islands were suitably placed to adapt to niche markets in their efforts to produce and export desired goods. The Maltese islands were probably no exception to this if we go by what the late Antonia Ciasca suggested in a 1985 article, where she proposed that a small number of locally produced pottery containers carrying foodstuffs were distributed to Maltese individuals residing away from the islands. Since then, new discoveries both in Malta and abroad have brought to light new archaeological evidence to substantiate further this distribution, as well as support a production and export of Maltese wine during the Late Punic/Early Roman period. This short presentation brings together new and old data to highlight what we can surmise so far, as well as our intention to embark on a programme of scientific analyses to corroborate and expand this suggested hypothesis.

"From Vine to Vat and Beyond: the Case of Ancient Malta" (Fulltext)

 

B) Production and the Trade of Amphorae: Some new data from Italy

8. Gloria Olcese (Sapienza, Università di Roma)

Wine in Sardinia. New archaeological data and research methodology
Archaeological and archaeometric studies carried out in the last few years as part of the “Immensa Aequora” Project (www.immensaaequora.org) focused on centres for producing wine amphorae and ceramics in the area of the Tyrrhenian Sea, particularly Latium and Campania. Parallel studies are in the process of reviewing the cargoes of some western-Mediterranean shipwrecks, dating to between the 3rd century B.C. and the 1st century A.D, which were transporting wine in amphorae from Tyrrhenian production centres. The present contribution promises to present a summary of these studies, with particular attention to production in Campania and some in Latium from the 3rd century B.C. to the 1st century A.D. The use of laboratory analyses (chemical and mineralogical) lets us establish some reference groups for the main production sites. Meanwhile, residue analysis, carried out for now on the Greco-Italic amphorae of some shipwrecks (3rd century B.C.) produced in the Gulf of Naples, has made it possible to confirm the presence of red wine on the interior of some types of amphorae.

"On Land and Sea. Production and Trade of Wine from Campania (3rd BC – 1st AD): Some New Archaeological and Archeometric Data about Amphorae" (Fulltext)

 

9. Luana Toniolo ( Parco archeologico di Pompei, Grande Progetto Pompei) / Alessandra Pecci (Universitat de Barcelona)

Wine production and distribution in the Vesuvian region: New evidence for old questions
Despite the huge quantity of data apparently available about wine production and distribution in the Vesuvian area, much still needs to be done to answer many questions about the scale of production, techonological features and on a wider scale the connections with the other regional production centers.
The paper aims to analyze the state-of-the art considering all the available evidence, focusing on the most critical issues with an approach based not only on a traditional archaeological study but also on archaeometrical analysis of ceramic fabrics and provenance, analysis of residues (gas-chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry) and archaeobotanical studies. All these datasets suggest the idea of a more complex than expected landscape of production.

"Il ciclo di vita del vino. Casi studio dall’area vesuviana" (Fulltext)

 

10. Giorgio Rizzo and Andrea Razza and Domenico Michele Surace (Sapienza Università di Roma) / Violeta Moreno Megías (Universidad de Sevilla)

Hispanic imports to Ostia in the Early Imperial Age: New data from amphorae
Rome was an extraordinary centre of consumption, and attracted an incredible amount of goods arriving through its ports (Ostia and Portus). One of the first peripheral regions to undertake the distribution of its agricultural surplus to the capital was Hispania, especially the Baetica province, which underwent a radical transformation in the organization of the exploitation and commercial trade of their resources from the Second Punic War to the Augustean age. After drawing up a comprehensive balance of Hispanic imports to Ostia transported by amphorae (wine, oil, salsamenta and fish sauces), the focus will be on a case study. An important sample area in the region of Ostia is the context of Binario Morto (about 50 BC-50 AD) where remains of a wooden waterwheel and a structure with amphorae used to drain the groundwater have been found. The study of the 335 amphorae shows a significant majority of Hispanic productions. Petrological and chemical analyses have permitted to determine the origin of the amphorae from specific workshops located in the areas of the Guadalquivir Valley and around Cádiz, and on the northern coast of Catalonia.

"Importazioni ispaniche di generi alimentari trasportati in anfora ad Ostia nella prima età imperiale: nuovi dati" (Fulltext)