Significant relationships between seed shape and taxonomic status, geographical origin (country or region) of accessions and parentage of varieties are highlighted, as previously noted based on genetic approaches. The combination of the analysis of modern reference material and well-preserved archaeological seeds provides original data about the history of ancient cultivated forms, some of them morphologically close to the current 'Clairette' and 'Mondeuse blanche' cultivars. Archaeobiological records seem to confirm the complexity of human contact, exchanges and migrations which spread grapevine cultivation in Europe and in Mediterranean areas, and argue in favour of the existence of local domestication in the Languedoc (southern France) region during Antiquity.
The large data set assembled during recent years by preventive archaeology allows us to put forward this synthesis on cultural practices and farming, during the Roman period, in the territory under the influence of Béziers and Lodève. We concentrate first on the advances made recently by local archaeology, on the rural establishments excavated, their winemaking equipments and their links with pottery workshops (amphorae and dolia). This is followed by details on the surviving remains of vineyards and orchards (plantation pits), combined with the information provided by the archaeobotanical data which help us recognize the diversity of natural habitats and the multiple facets of the agrarian economy. This synthesis concludes by emphasizing the importance of the flourishing wine production between the end of the 1st century B. C. and the beginning of the 3rd century A. D. and highlights the diversity of situations and the exploitation of mixed crops (annuals + fruit trees/ shrubs).
Preventive archaeology projects carried out over recent years on the site of the former ancient city of Lodève. in the Hérault valley (situated in the Hérault department of the Languedoc-Roussillon region of Southern France), have allowed several studies of agricultural units active under the High Roman Empire. They provide evidence of a relatively strong overall structure, possessing a wide variety of production equipment. The nature of these installations and their association with a large area of winegrowing indicates a developed winegrowing economy and quite an unusual organisation of production. Most of the units appear to be modest in size, but their combined number may be very high. A number of them are concentrated in small rural agglomerations, in what were most certainly specialised groups (traduction G. Tearse).
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