The oldest macroremains of Vitis from Slovenia

Abstract The oldest Vitis vinifera ssp. L. (grape) pips (seeds) from Slovenian archaeological sites were found at the late Neolithic (Copper Age) pile-dwelling settlement of Hočevarica on the Ljubljansko barje and date to the 37th/ 36th century B.C. Various biometric studies were carried out to establish whether the grapes were wild or cultivated. A comparison of several morphological characteristics of grape pip samples was performed. Neolithic pips from Hočevarica, Roman pips from Vrhnika (1st century A.D.) and recent Slovenian cultivated grape pips were included in the study. According to the standard indices, the Neolithic Vitis pips were wild. In the case of the Roman pips, it was impossible to determine whether they were wild or cultivated, although they had most probably been cultivated. Since the morphology of grape pips varies considerably (as it did in the Neolithic, as well), the attempted identification of the subspecies Vitis vinifera ssp. sylvestris/vinifera, based on morphological characteristics alone, was unsatisfactory. Therefore, an attempt was made to analyse the DNA, which could help to resolve this question. Initial experiments on extraction of archaeological DNA and amplification of the chloroplast region were performed, but further optimization steps are needed to achieve successful amplification