A Multidisciplinary Approach to Environmental Reconstruction and Viticulture at Roman St. Petkina Niva in the Ohrid Region, North Macedonia

A small-scale excavation of the Roman period site St. Petkina Niva in North Macedonia revealed several storage vessels. One of the vessels was placed in situ, with the inner surface coated with a black matter. The soil samples from the excavated contexts exhibited an abundance of organic material, including charred archaeobotanical macroremains, charcoal, animal bones and molluscs. In addition to other plants and seeds, grapevine charcoal fragments and pips have been identified. Geometric morphometric analysis of the grape pips showed that most of them came from domesticated vines. Chemical residue analysis identified the black matter from the storage vessel as pine tar, in antiquity used as a natural antiseptic and a content preservative, often in association with wine containers. Our combined results thus indicate vine cultivation and local wine production. Two of the grapevine seeds yielded identical 14C data, narrowing the chronology to the second half of the 3rd – end of the 4th century AD. Additionally, the analysis of anthracological and malacological remains showed a diverse composition of vegetation around the site during the Roman period, dominated by plane tree and other tree species of orchards, combined with a steppe environment, influenced by human activities.