Man, plant remains, diet: spread and ecology of Prunus L. in Sardinia

Archaeobotany offers the opportunity to explore the various practices related to the use of wild plants and understand how these have been selected for domestication. The identification of wild and cultivated plants could facilitate the understanding of the role they have in the subsistence economy and how this is strictly related to dietary habits. The main goals of this thesis are to interpret and understand the relation between human communities and the exploitation of plant resources in the past, thus understanding agricultural and alimentary behaviors in the present time. The genus Prunus has been selected because understudied in Sardinia from the archaeobotanical point of view but fairly widespread in the Mediterranean archaeological contexts. The application of image analysis technique for an adequate definition of the endocarp morpho-colorimetric and morphometric parameters represents an important diagnostic factor in the Prunus taxonomy studies and consequently may be helpful for the improvement of the management and in the enhancement of ancient fruit. The study of traditional varieties aims to create models of development, recovery and enhancement of ancient fruit. Also sets the basis for proposals for the recovery of cultural traditions and local economies. For the first time, it was possible to investigate about the morphology and morphometry of P. domestica endocarps of traditional local varieties from Sardinia. Endocarp morpho-colorimetric features, EFDs and Haralick’s descriptors obtained by image analysis allowed to implement a statistical classifier able to identify and classify the studied varieties of P. domestica, identifying plausible synonymy groups and confirming that the endocarp retain some characters directly related to the fruit skin color. The discovery of well-preserved waterlogged endocarps of P. domestica from the Phoenician-Punic settlement of Santa Giusta could be evidence that the introduction of primitive cultivated forms of plums in Sardinia have been introduced by the Phoenicians people. Moreover, these endocarps represent the oldest findings and they are the oldest evidence of cultivated plums in the western Mediterranean Basin. Finally, for the first time, it was possible to investigate through image analysis system about the morphology and morphometry of archaeological P. spinosa endocarps from Sardinia. These sites are currently the only finds of P. spinosa remains in waterlogged conditions documented in Sardinia by archaeological sources. Thanks to image analysis system it was possible to understand the hypothetical origin

Domestic grape germination behaviour: the ‘Chardonnay’ and ‘Syrah’international cultivars’s study case

The domestic grape germination eco-physiology is a little studied aspect since reproduction occurs predominantly agamically, despite the sexual reproduction remains the main form for the selection of new cultivars. In this study, two international cultivars grown all over the world-Chardonnay and Syrah-were chosen as models of the domestic grape for the experiments in the eco-physiology of germination. The experimental design consisted of chemical, mechanical pre-treatments and combination of them as the bird ingestion pre-treatment that simulates the transit through the digestive tract of birds. Furthermore, seeds were submitted to different periods of cold stratification -0, 15, 30, 60 and 90 days -to simulate the winter effect. Seeds were placed to germinate at different incubation temperatures, to find the optimal germination protocol. The results showed that domestic grapes retain the need for cold stratification, and the best germination temperature is represented by the fluctuating temperature that simulates spring conditions. Our results help to understand what the best germination conditions of domestic grapes are and offer a contribution to extend the knowledge on how the process of domestication may have affected the biology of Vitis vinifera L. subsp. vinifera

First finds of Prunus domestica L. in Italy from the Phoenician and Punic periods (6th-2nd centuries BC)

Abstract During the archaeological excavations in the Phoenician and Punic settlement of Santa Giusta (Oristano, Sardinia, Italy), dating back to the 6th–2nd centuries bc, several Prunus fruitstones (endocarps) inside amphorae were recovered. The exceptional state of preservation of the waterlogged remains allowed morphometric measurements to be done by image analysis and statistical comparisons made with modern cultivated and wild Prunus samples collected in Sardinia. Digital images of modern and archaeological Prunus fruitstones were acquired with a flatbed scanner and analysed by applying image analysis techniques to measure 26 morphometric features. By applying stepwise linear discriminant analysis, a morphometric comparison was made between the archaeological fruitstones of Prunus and the modern ones collected in Sardinia. These analyses allowed identification of 53 archaeological fruitstones as P. spinosa and 11 as P. domestica. Moreover, the archaeological samples of P. spinosa showed morphometric similarities in 92.5% of the cases with the modern P. spinosa samples currently growing near the Phoenician and Punic site. Likewise, the archaeological fruitstones identified as P. domestica showed similarities with the modern variety of P. domestica called Sanguigna di Bosa which is currently cultivated near the village of Bosa. Currently, these findings represent the first evidence of P. domestica in Italy during the Phoenician and Punic periods. Keywords Archaeobotany · Image analysis · Morphometric features · Prunus · Sardini

The Botanical Record of Archaeobotany Italian Network - BRAIN: a cooperative network, database and website

Con autorización de la revista para autores CSIC[EN] The BRAIN (Botanical Records of Archaeobotany Italian Network) database and network was developed by the cooperation of archaeobotanists working on Italian archaeological sites. Examples of recent research including pollen or other plant remains in analytical and synthetic papers are reported as an exemplar reference list. This paper retraces the main steps of the creation of BRAIN, from the scientific need for the first research cooperation to the website which has a free online access since 2015.Peer reviewe

Discovering Plum, Watermelon and Grape Cultivars Founded in a Middle Age Site of Sassari (Sardinia, Italy) through a Computer Image Analysis Approach

The discovery of several waterlogged plant remains in a Middle Ages context (1330–1360 AD) in Sassari (NS, Sardinia, Italy) enabled the characterisation of archaeological plum fruit stones and watermelon and grape seeds through computer image analysis. Digital seed/endocarp images were acquired by a flatbed scanner and processed and analysed by applying computerised image analysis techniques. The morphometric data were statistically elaborated using stepwise linear discriminant analysis (LDA), allowing comparisons among archaeological remains, wild populations and autochthonous cultivars. Archaeological samples of plum were compared with 21 autochthonous cultivars of Prunus domestica from Sardinia, while archaeological watermelon seeds were compared with 36 seed lots of Citrullus from Europe, Africa and Asia. Moreover, archaeological grape seeds were compared with 51 autochthonous traditional cultivars of Vitis vinifera subsp. vinifera from Sardinia, 16 cultivars from Tuscany, six cultivars from Liguria, and eight cultivars from Catalonia (Spain). Archaeological plum remains showed morphological affinity with five cultivars of Sardinia. Seed features of the archaeological watermelon remains demonstrated affiliation with a proper sweet dessert watermelon, Citrullus lanatus, and similarity with some Sardinian cultivars. Regarding the archaeological remains of grape, morphometric comparisons showed a high similarity with autochthonous cultivars from Catalonia and Liguria. This study provides new information about ancient fruit cultivated and consumed during the Middle Ages in Sardinia

Man, plant remains, diet: spread and ecology of Prunus L. in Sardinia

Archaeobotany offers the opportunity to explore the various practices related to the use of wild plants and understand how these have been selected for domestication. The identification of wild and cultivated plants could facilitate the understanding of the role they have in the subsistence economy and how this is strictly related to dietary habits. The main goals of this thesis are to interpret and understand the relation between human communities and the exploitation of plant resources in the past, thus understanding agricultural and alimentary behaviors in the present time. The genus Prunus has been selected because understudied in Sardinia from the archaeobotanical point of view but fairly widespread in the Mediterranean archaeological contexts. The application of image analysis technique for an adequate definition of the endocarp morpho-colorimetric and morphometric parameters represents an important diagnostic factor in the Prunus taxonomy studies and consequently may be helpful for the improvement of the management and in the enhancement of ancient fruit. The study of traditional varieties aims to create models of development, recovery and enhancement of ancient fruit. Also sets the basis for proposals for the recovery of cultural traditions and local economies. For the first time, it was possible to investigate about the morphology and morphometry of P. domestica endocarps of traditional local varieties from Sardinia. Endocarp morpho-colorimetric features, EFDs and Haralick’s descriptors obtained by image analysis allowed to implement a statistical classifier able to identify and classify the studied varieties of P. domestica, identifying plausible synonymy groups and confirming that the endocarp retain some characters directly related to the fruit skin color. The discovery of well-preserved waterlogged endocarps of P. domestica from the Phoenician-Punic settlement of Santa Giusta could be evidence that the introduction of primitive cultivated forms of plums in Sardinia have been introduced by the Phoenicians people. Moreover, these endocarps represent the oldest findings and they are the oldest evidence of cultivated plums in the western Mediterranean Basin. Finally, for the first time, it was possible to investigate through image analysis system about the morphology and morphometry of archaeological P. spinosa endocarps from Sardinia. These sites are currently the only finds of P. spinosa remains in waterlogged conditions documented in Sardinia by archaeological sources. Thanks to image analysis system it was possible to understand the hypothetical origin

Antropologia ed evoluzione umana nel Museo Sardo di Antropologia ed Etnografia. Finalità didattico-educative

The Anthropological room located in the Sardinian Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of Cagliari University, exhibits a permanent collection of human skeletal remains and replicas of fossil hominids related to human evolution. The educational role of the museum is supported by several exhibitions and laboratory activities. The final purpose is to collect, preserve this collection and make it available for a wide audience