18 native Israeli grape samples

Recent excavations of late Byzantine-Early-Islamic settlements in the arid Negev Highlands in southern Israel uncovered a society that established sustainable viticulture in aridity. We applied target-enriched genome-wide sequencing and radiocarbon dating to archaeological grapevine pips collected in these sites. Our analyses revealed that the grapevines from which the recovered pips originated were related to southern Levant heritage cultivars, giving evidence for centuries long continuous grape cultivation in this region. The genetically diverse pips also provided clues to ancient cultivation strategies aimed at ensuring food security. Applying genomic prediction analysis, a pip dated to the 8th century CE was determined to be from a possible white grape, the oldest ever to be identified. In a kinship analysis, another pip was found to likely belong to the parent variety of a modern Greek cultivar and was thus linked with several popular historic wines that were once traded across the Byzantine empire. These findings shed light on historical Byzantine trading networks and on the Levantine genetic contribution to classic Aegean cultivars. In the age of global warming, the living descendants of the Negev Desert grapes offer an opportune platform for future studies on grapevine resilience to aridity.