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Volume 11
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Article

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

by
Marco Sarigu
1,
Diego Sabato
2,
Mariano Ucchesu
3,*,
Maria Cecilia Loi
1,
Giovanna Bosi
4,
Oscar Grillo
1,
Salvador Barros Torres
5 and
Gianluigi Bacchetta
1
1
Centro Conservazione Biodiversità (CCB), Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell’Ambiente (DISVA), Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Viale Sant’Ignazio da Laconi, 13, 09123 Cagliari, Italy
2
Departament de Prehistòria i Arqueologia, Facultat de Geografía i Historia, Universitat de València, Av. Blasco Ibáñez, 28, 46010 Valencia, Spain
3
Institut des Sciences de l’Évolution (ISEM), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Université Montpellier, UMR 5554, CEDEX 05, 34095 Montpellier, France
4
Laboratorio di Palinologia e Paleobotanica, Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Via Campi, 287, 41125 Modena, Italy
5
Laboratório de Análise de Sementes, Departamento de Ciências Agronômicas e Florestais, Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido (UFERSA), Av. Francisco Mota, Bairro Costa e Silva, 572, Mossoró 59625-900 , Brazil
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Plants 2022, 11(8), 1089; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11081089
Submission received: 25 March 2022 / Revised: 6 April 2022 / Accepted: 13 April 2022 / Published: 16 April 2022
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Crops and Agriculture in Medieval Age in Europe)
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Abstract

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.
Keywords: seed image analysis; Middle Ages context; Citrullus; Prunus; Vitis; Sardinia seed image analysis; Middle Ages context; Citrullus; Prunus; Vitis; Sardinia

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MDPI and ACS Style

Sarigu, M.; Sabato, D.; Ucchesu, M.; Loi, M.C.; Bosi, G.; Grillo, O.; Torres, S.B.; Bacchetta, G. Discovering Plum, Watermelon and Grape Cultivars Founded in a Middle Age Site of Sassari (Sardinia, Italy) through a Computer Image Analysis Approach. Plants 2022, 11, 1089. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11081089

AMA Style

Sarigu M, Sabato D, Ucchesu M, Loi MC, Bosi G, Grillo O, Torres SB, Bacchetta G. Discovering Plum, Watermelon and Grape Cultivars Founded in a Middle Age Site of Sassari (Sardinia, Italy) through a Computer Image Analysis Approach. Plants. 2022; 11(8):1089. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11081089

Chicago/Turabian Style

Sarigu, Marco, Diego Sabato, Mariano Ucchesu, Maria Cecilia Loi, Giovanna Bosi, Oscar Grillo, Salvador Barros Torres, and Gianluigi Bacchetta. 2022. "Discovering Plum, Watermelon and Grape Cultivars Founded in a Middle Age Site of Sassari (Sardinia, Italy) through a Computer Image Analysis Approach" Plants 11, no. 8: 1089. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11081089

APA Style

Sarigu, M., Sabato, D., Ucchesu, M., Loi, M. C., Bosi, G., Grillo, O., Torres, S. B., & Bacchetta, G. (2022). Discovering Plum, Watermelon and Grape Cultivars Founded in a Middle Age Site of Sassari (Sardinia, Italy) through a Computer Image Analysis Approach. Plants, 11(8), 1089. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11081089

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