Fluctuations in viticulture and oleiculture traditions in Bronze and Iron Age Levant cultures: they were committed to wine production
Farmers in the Middle East were more committed to wine production over olive growing during times of climatic change in the Bronze and Iron Ages, according to new research.
Archaeologists who analysed the charred remains of ancient plant samples found that irrigation was used to maintain grape cultivation as people prioritised viticulture.
Their findings provide evidence of the importance of wine production for cultural and economic purposes during that period.
The research, led by the University of Tübingen, Germany, and involving Durham University, UK, is published in the journal PLoS ONE.
The team looked at over 1,500 seed and wood samples from grape and olive plants from the Early Bronze Age to the Iron Age (5,000 to 2,600 years before today).
The samples came from the Levant region and northern Mesopotamia, which today includes Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Syria, Turkey, and northern Iraq.
The researchers analysed the ratios of stable carbon isotopes – non-radioactive forms of carbon that do not decay over time – in the samples to see how much water was available as the plants grew.
During the Early Bronze Age evidence of water stress matched seasonal variations in moisture.
During later periods there was greater variability in water stress, while the presence of grapes and olives in drier regions indicated more widespread use of irrigation.
The analysis also showed evidence for intensive irrigation of grape crops since the Middle Bronze Age, as well as the presence of cultivated grapes in areas poorly-suited to growing the fruit.
This suggests that grapes and wine were of particular cultural and economic value, confirming the findings of previous archaeological research.
Research senior author Professor Dan Lawrence, in the Department of Archaeology, Durham University, said:
“Olive and grape were key crops, providing both food for locals and exportable commodities which facilitated trade between the Levant and Mesopotamia, and beyond with Egypt, Turkey and the wider Mediterranean.
“Our research demonstrates that farmers in the Middle East thousands of years ago were making decisions about which crops to plant and how to manage them, balancing the risk of harvest failure with the effort needed to irrigate, and the likely demand for their products.
“It reminds us that people in the past were just as smart as people today, and that seemingly modern issues like resilience to climate change and the need to allocate resources carefully have long histories.”
As well as Durham University’s Department of Archaeology, the research involved Durham’s Department of Earth Sciences, alongside the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment and the Institute for Archaeological Sciences, at the University of Tübingen.
The research was funded by the European Research Council through the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, the German Research Foundation and the Fritz Thyssen Foundation.
Bibliographic information:
Riehl S, Deckers K, Hinojosa-Baliño I, Gröcke DR, Lawrence D Fluctuations of viti- and oleiculture traditions in the Bronze and Iron Age Levant, PLoS ONE (2025) 20(9): e0330032, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0330032
Press release from Durham University
