ARAŞTIRMA MAKALESİ /RESEARCH ARTICLE GRAPE (VITIS VINIFERA) SEEDS FROM ANTIQUITY AND THE MIDDLE AGES EXCAVATED IN HUNGARY - LM AND SEM ANALYSIS

Grape (Vitis vinifera) seed remains were excavated at Roman and Medieval archeological sites in Hungary and analyzed by LM (Light Microscopy) and SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy). Excavation sites included Budapest (Aquincum; 2 nd - 4 th CENT. A.D. Hungary) and Keszthely (Fenekpuszta) of the Roman Age (5 th CENT. A.D., Hungary); and Győr (Ece; 11-12 th CENT. A.D., Hungary), Debrecen (13 th CENT. A.D., Hungary) and the King’s Palace of Arpad Dinasty at the Castle of Buda, Budapest (15 th CENT. A.D., Hungary) of the Middle Ages. Ancient seeds were compared to thirty current grape varieties of similar seed size, shape, and morphology (Szabo et al. 2007). The modern grape variety Vitis vinifera cv. ‘kek bakator’ (syn.:‘Blue Bocca d’Oro’; ‘aranybogyo’) was found most similar in seed morphology to one of the ancient samples (15 th CENT. Debrecen, Hungary) which indicates the antiquity of this cultivar.