Assessing Past Agrobiodiversity of Prunus Avium L. (Rosaceae): A
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Veget Hist Archaeobot DOI 10.1007/s00334-011-0310-6 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Assessing past agrobiodiversity of Prunus avium L. (Rosaceae): a morphometric approach focussed on the stones from the archaeological site Hoˆtel-Dieu (16th century, Tours, France) Pauline Burger • Jean-Frederic Terral • Marie-Pierre Ruas • Sarah Ivorra • Sandrine Picq Received: 18 October 2010 / Accepted: 20 July 2011 Ó Springer-Verlag 2011 Abstract Abundant and diverse Prunus fruitstone remains century Hoˆtel-Dieu cesspit at Tours, France, revealed that from cherries, plums, sloes, peaches, etc. are frequently the morphological diversity is structured into two distinct recovered from archaeological waterlogged contexts such as morphotypes which diverge mainly according to geometri- wells, latrines, lake dwellings etc. in Europe. The distinction cal features. Finally, the comparison between morphological between most of the Prunus species, based on traditional features of these well-preserved archaeological stones and morphological characters of the fruit stones, is usually not modern reference material including P. avium, P. cerasus problematic. However the discrimination between P. avium and P. 9 gondouinii, suggests that these two morphotypes, L., P. cerasus L. and related cherry species, based on clas- which have been initially attributed to P. avium (long stones) sical criteria alone, often turns out to be ambiguous because and P. avium/cerasus (rounded stones) according to tradi- of the increasing number of varieties which have been bred tional morphological parameters, would correspond to two since Roman times. By combining geometric and traditional different cultivated varieties, both belonging to Prunus morphometrical approaches, the overall variation in shape avium. Results presented in this work constitute new and and size of stones from French and Swiss excavations dating preliminary data obtained during the development of this from the 1st century to the 16th century A.D. were assessed. project that throw light on morphological variability and Among these important archaeobotanical data, the detailed biosystematic aspects. examination of 100 waterlogged stones from the 16th Keywords Agrobiodiversity Á Archaeobiology Á Communicated by M. Latałowa. Cultivars Á Morphometrics Á Morphotypes Á Prunus avium Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00334-011-0310-6) contains supplementary Introduction material, which is available to authorized users. P. Burger (&) Á J.-F. Terral Á S. Ivorra Á S. Picq Most Prunus species are deciduous and often spiny trees Centre de Bio-Arche´ologie et d’Ecologie (CBAE) (UMR 5059 and shrubs with fruits as drupes, usually with a juicy fruit CNRS/Universite´ Montpellier 2/EPHE), Equipe Ressources flesh (Hanelt 1997; Rehder 1940). The Prunus genus which Biologiques, Socie´te´s, Biodiversite´, Institut de Botanique, 163 rue Auguste Broussonet, 34090 Montpellier, France comprises more than 400 species (Rosaceae family; Lin- e-mail: [email protected] naeus 1753), is widely distributed in the northern hemi- sphere with many wild and cultivated representatives in J.-F. Terral Europe. It is an economically and ecologically important Universite´ Montpellier 2, Place Euge`ne Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier cedex 5, France group with many cultivated species, notably P. dulcis (Mill) D.A.Webb (almond), P. armeniaca L. (apricot), M.-P. Ruas P. persica (L.) Batsch (peach), and P. domestica L. l.s. Arche´ozoologie, Arche´obotanique-Socie´te´s, Pratiques et (plums, in the wide sense). Despite the geographical range Environnements (AASPE) (UMR 7209 CNRS/MNHN), Muse´um National d’Histoire Naturelle, 55 rue Buffon, 75231 and the popularity of this genus, the evolution history and Paris Cedex 05, France taxonomy of Prunus remain unclear. Progenitors of many 123 Veget Hist Archaeobot species and cultivars are often hypothesized, but not highly regarded. The establishment of the cherry orchard definitively identified. (‘‘Kirschgarten’’) tradition in northern and central Europe Prunus avium L. (sweet and wild cherries), P. cerasus would be linked to the increasing medieval taste for these L. (sour, dwarf or morello cherry), P. fruticosa (ground flavoursome fruits (Kroll 2007; Kroll and Willerding 2004). cherry) and P. 9 gondouinii (duke cherry), along with P. cerasus was well represented in these orchards, alongside related cherry species and their interspecific hybrids con- P. mahaleb, P. fruticosa and P. avium in the early Slavonic stitute the Eucerasus section, part of the Cerasus (Mill.) stronghold of Mikulcˇice in Moravia (Opravil 1998) and in Focke subgenus of the genus Prunus (Santi and Lemoine several medieval sites located in eastern central Europe 1990; Thorne 1992). This classification was defined based (Kroll 2007; Kroll and Willerding 2004; Medovic´ 2004). on morphological criteria by Rehder (1947) and later by The duke cherries from the fertile P. 9 gondouinii Rehd. Kru¨smann (1978), and has been further confirmed by species, previously known as P. acida Dum, Cerasus reg- chloroplast DNA variation analysis (Badenes and Parfitt alis or Prunus avium ssp. regalis, seem to be intermediate 1995). between P. avium and P. cerasus (Dirlewanger et al. 2009; The ancestors of the modern P. avium (sweet cherries) Faust and Suranyi 1997; Saunier and Claverie 2001). Based seem to have originated around the Caspian and Black on the analysis of 75 AFLP markers, P. avium and P. cer- Seas, from where they have slowly spread, a phenomenon asus were established as the progenitors of P. 9 gondouinii initially driven by birds, hence the species name P. avium Rehd. (Tavaud 2002; Tavaud et al. 2004): duke cherries (Dirlewanger et al. 2007). Requiring warm and dry sum- would result from the pollination of sour cherry by unre- mers, but adequate rainfall or irrigation during the growing duced gametes of sweet cherry (Iezzoni et al. 1990). season, the natural range of P. avium covers the European Since antiquity in Europe, archaeobotanical data have temperate regions from the southeastern part of Russia to recorded a significant increase in fruit species diversity the northern part of Spain (Hedrick 1915). According to (Ruas 1992, 1996; van Zeist 1991). In his Natural History, archaeobotanical data, the wild P. avium seems to have Pliny the Elder (1st c. A.D.) mentioned notably nine vari- been collected by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in southern eties of sweet cherries planted in Rome (Andre´ 1981), France, but very few charred stones have been found suggesting that several cherry varieties had already been (Vaquer and Ruas 2009). Most of the other mentions from imported and probably cultivated at this time in the Roman Mesolithic sites in northern Europe seem doubtful (Bakels southern provinces, such as the Narbonnaise in France 1991). The fruit are more frequently recorded from the (Ruas et al. 2006). From this period, a morphological Neolithic and Bronze Ages 5500–4000 B.C. (Hedrick 1915; diversification of Prunus stones was noticed which is Marshall 1954; Bertsch and Bertsch 1949, Out 2009). It is related to, after written sources, an increasing number of suggested that sweet cherries may either be indigenous in fruit varieties (Amigues 2002; Andre´ 1981; Raspail 1838; southern Europe as small isolated populations, or may have Quellier 2003). In order to identify more precisely the fruit been introduced in these areas since the Neolithic. remains found in archaeological excavations and particu- The ground cherries, from the most cold hardy cherry larly to distinguish varieties among these taxa, various species P. fruticosa, are widespread over the major part of typological analyses based on macroscopic characters of central Europe, Siberia and northern Asia (Hedrick 1915). plum and sloe stones have been proposed over time by Based on fossil evidence, P. cerasus seems to have several authors (Baas 1974;Ro¨der 1940; Rybin 1936; originated around the Caspian Sea, from an area very sim- Werneck 1958). In 1978, Behre developed a typological ilar to that of sweet cherries, and it appears to be native to analysis of stones by defining a number of ‘Prunus northwest and central Europe (Dirlewanger et al. 2009; Formenkreise’ or types during his analysis of the Watkins 1995). The hybrid origin of P. cerasus was first P. domestica L. stones from Haithabu, Germany, 9th–11th suggested by Olden and Nybon (1968) on the basis of centuries A.D. These ‘Prunus Formenkreise’ were defined morphological and biochemical evidence. Continuous according to stone size, surface sculpture and shape variations between the P. fruticosa and P. avium charac- (finding expression in the indices), and were then related to teristics were observed in sour cherry throughout its geo- modern varieties. This method has been applied by various graphical range. P. cerasus seems to be closer to P. avium in archaeobotanists to stones from numerous European western Europe, whereas it is most closely related to excavations and used notably by van Zeist and Woldring P. fruticosa in eastern Europe (Hillig and Iezzoni 1988; (2000) to characterise P. domestica L. endocarps from the Krahl et al. 1991). Many genetic studies have confirmed the late- and post-medieval occupation deposits in the town hybrid origin of P. cerasus and have shown P. fruticosa and centre of Groningen, The Netherlands. Based on physical P. avium as its progenitors (Hancock and Iezzoni 1988; and morphological characteristics, the authors distin- Santi and Lemoine 1990; Schuster and Schreiber 2000).