IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i4p2287-d502573.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sharing the Agrarian Knowledge with Archaeology: First Evidence of the Dimorphism of Vitis Pollen from the Middle Bronze Age of N Italy (Terramara Santa Rosa di Poviglio)

Author

Listed:
  • Anna Maria Mercuri

    (Laboratorio di Palinologia e Paleobotanica, Dipartimento Scienze della Vita, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy)

  • Paola Torri

    (Laboratorio di Palinologia e Paleobotanica, Dipartimento Scienze della Vita, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy)

  • Assunta Florenzano

    (Laboratorio di Palinologia e Paleobotanica, Dipartimento Scienze della Vita, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy)

  • Eleonora Clò

    (Laboratorio di Palinologia e Paleobotanica, Dipartimento Scienze della Vita, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy)

  • Marta Mariotti Lippi

    (Laboratorio di Palinologia, Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Firenze, 50121 Firenze, Italy)

  • Elisabetta Sgarbi

    (Laboratorio Area Vegetale–Centro Interdipartimentale Biogest-Siteia, Dipartimento Scienze della Vita, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, 42124 Reggio Emilia, Italy)

  • Cristina Bignami

    (Laboratorio Area Vegetale–Centro Interdipartimentale Biogest-Siteia, Dipartimento Scienze della Vita, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, 42124 Reggio Emilia, Italy)

Abstract

The recovery of inaperturate pollen from functionally female flowers in archaeological layers opens the question of a possible pollen-based discrimination between wild and domesticated Vitis vinifera in prehistoric times. Pollen analysis applied to archaeology has not routinely considered the existence of pollen dimorphism in Vitis , a well-known trait in the field of agrarian studies. Therefore, the inaperturate shape of grapevine pollen is ignored by studies on the archaeobotanical history of viticulture. In this paper we investigate pollen morphology of the domesticated and wild subspecies of V. vinifera , and report the first evidence of inaperturate Vitis pollen from an archaeological site. We studied exemplar cases of plants with hermaphroditic flowers, belonging to the subspecies vinifera with fully developed male and female organs, cases of dioecious plants with male or female flowers, belonging to the wild subspecies sylvestris and cases of V. vinifera subsp. vinifera with morphologically hermaphroditic but functionally female flowers. The pollen produced by hermaphroditic and male flowers is usually trizonocolporate; the pollen produced by female flowers is inaperturate. This paper reports on the inaperturate pollen of Vitis found in an archeological site of the Po Plain, Northern Italy. The site dated to the Bronze Age, which is known to have been a critical age for the use of this plant with a transition from wild to domesticated Vitis in central Mediterranean. Can the inaperturate Vitis pollen be a marker of wild Vitis vinifera in prehistoric times? Palynology suggests a possible new investigation strategy on the ancient history of the wild and cultivated grapevine. The pollen dimorphism also implies a different production and dispersal of pollen of the wild and the domesticated subspecies. Grapevine plants are palynologically different from the other Mediterranean “cultural trees”. In fact, Olea , Juglans and Castanea , which are included in the OJC index, have the same pollen morphology and the same pollen dispersal, in wild and domesticated plants. In contrast, the signal of Vitis pollen in past records may be different depending on the hermaphroditic or dioecious subspecies.

Suggested Citation

  • Anna Maria Mercuri & Paola Torri & Assunta Florenzano & Eleonora Clò & Marta Mariotti Lippi & Elisabetta Sgarbi & Cristina Bignami, 2021. "Sharing the Agrarian Knowledge with Archaeology: First Evidence of the Dimorphism of Vitis Pollen from the Middle Bronze Age of N Italy (Terramara Santa Rosa di Poviglio)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-20, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:4:p:2287-:d:502573
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/4/2287/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/4/2287/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mariano Ucchesu & Martino Orrù & Oscar Grillo & Gianfranco Venora & Giacomo Paglietti & Andrea Ardu & Gianluigi Bacchetta, 2016. "Predictive Method for Correct Identification of Archaeological Charred Grape Seeds: Support for Advances in Knowledge of Grape Domestication Process," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(2), pages 1-18, February.
    2. Mélanie Massonnet & Noé Cochetel & Andrea Minio & Amanda M. Vondras & Jerry Lin & Aline Muyle & Jadran F. Garcia & Yongfeng Zhou & Massimo Delledonne & Summaira Riaz & Rosa Figueroa-Balderas & Brandon, 2020. "The genetic basis of sex determination in grapes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-12, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Vincent Bonhomme & Sandrine Picq & Sarah Ivorra & Allowen Evin & Thierry Pastor & Roberto Bacilieri & Thierry Lacombe & Isabel Figueiral & Jean-Frédéric Terral & Laurent Bouby, 2020. "Eco-evo-devo implications and archaeobiological perspectives of trait covariance in fruits of wild and domesticated grapevines," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(11), pages 1-22, November.
    2. Pat Iocco-Corena & Jamila Chaïb & Laurent Torregrosa & Don Mackenzie & Mark R. Thomas & Harley M. Smith, 2021. "VviPLATZ1 is a major factor that controls female flower morphology determination in grapevine," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-10, December.
    3. Alessandro Vannozzi & Fabio Palumbo & Margherita Lucchin & Gianni Barcaccia, 2022. "Dioecy in Flowering Plants: From the First Observations of Prospero Alpini in the XVI Century to the Most Recent Advances in the Genomics Era," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-10, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:4:p:2287-:d:502573. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.