Grape and olive cultivation, two of humanity’s oldest agricultural traditions, have long been intertwined with the cultural and economic fabric of the ancient Levant. A groundbreaking study published on September 17, 2025, in the open-access journal PLOS One by Simone Riehl and colleagues from the University of Tübingen, Germany, offers a profound glimpse into how these venerable crops responded to shifting climatic conditions and evolving agricultural practices from the Early Bronze Age through the Iron Age. This research not only unravels the complexities of ancient farming strategies but also sheds light on the adaptive resilience of early agricultural societies in the face of environmental stressors.
The Levantine region, encompassing modern-day Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, and parts of Syria, served as a pivotal corridor for agriculture and trade in antiquity. Grapes and olives were essential to this landscape, revered not only for their dietary and economic importance but also for their symbolic and ritual significance. They formed the basis of products such as wine and olive oil, commodities that transcended local consumption and became staples in interregional trade networks. However, fluctuating climatic conditions and cultural dynamics rendered the continuity of these crops anything but stable, with periods of prosperity juxtaposed against times of scarcity and stress.
The authors meticulously analyzed an archive of more than 1,500 archaeobotanical samples, including seeds and wood remains sourced across multiple archaeological sites in the Levant and northern Mesopotamia. These samples, spanning over two millennia, enabled a diachronic review of agricultural practices from the Early Bronze Age (circa 3300–2100 BCE) through the Iron Age (circa 1200–586 BCE). Central to their approach was the application of stable carbon isotope analysis (δ13C), a cutting-edge method that serves as a proxy for assessing water availability during the growth period of plants. By studying the isotopic signatures embedded in ancient plant remains, the team could infer degrees of water stress, thus illuminating the relationship between environmental moisture and crop cultivation strategies.
Their findings reveal distinct temporal patterns in plant water stress indicative of shifting agronomic interventions. During the Early Bronze Age, isotopic data suggested that grapevines and olive trees were primarily reliant on natural rainfall, with water stress levels reflecting typical seasonal moisture variation within the Mediterranean climate. However, as the region progressed towards the Middle Bronze Age and subsequently the Iron Age, a pronounced increase in variability of water availability was observed in the archaeological record. Notably, cultivated grapevines showed signs of thriving even in zones characterized by arid or marginal precipitation regimes, strongly implying the emergence and intensification of irrigation technologies.
The deployment of irrigation during these later eras stands as a testament to a growing sophistication in agricultural management. The deliberate supplementation of water allowed ancient farmers to mitigate drought stress and stabilize yields, thus underscoring a deliberate investment of labor and resources into sustaining and expanding viticultural productivity. This shift also aligns with broader regional climatic oscillations known from palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, such as the well-documented Late Bronze Age climatic fluctuations and subsequent arid intervals during the Iron Age that would have otherwise imperiled rainfed agriculture.
A particularly compelling aspect of this study is the contrast in irrigation intensity between grapevines and olive trees. The data demonstrated that grapes received significantly more irrigation attention, a pattern consistent with the greater cultural and economic significance attributed to viticulture during these sessions. While olive cultivation was not abandoned and remained an important agricultural component, it appears less intensively managed in terms of water input, potentially reflecting its greater drought tolerance and lower labor costs. The preferential irrigation of grapes likely reflects the high social and trade value of wine, sought after for ceremonial uses, dietary luxury, and export commodities that fueled ancient economies.
These insights enrich our understanding of ancient human-environment interactions, illustrating that farmers in Southwest Asia, some 4,000 years ago, were actively engaged in complex decision-making processes. They balanced the inherent risks of environmental variability with the potential rewards of market demand and social prestige. This dynamic demonstrates an advanced awareness of resource management strategies—carefully negotiating the trade-offs between water investment and crop selection, an early manifestation of agricultural risk management that remains highly relevant today.
From a broader perspective, this research has considerable implications for contemporary concerns about agricultural resilience amid global climate change. The historical precedents unearthed by Riehl and colleagues underscore that ancient societies confronted analogous challenges of drought and water scarcity, deploying strategic innovations such as irrigation to sustain crop productivity. Understanding these adaptive mechanisms can inform modern efforts to design resilient agricultural systems in water-limited environments.
Additionally, the multi-disciplinary approach championed by this study—integrating archaeobotanical sampling with isotopic geochemistry and paleoenvironmental data—exemplifies the power of scientific collaboration in archaeology. By connecting biological markers with climatological records and archaeological context, the researchers reconstructed nuanced narratives of ancient agricultural evolution, revealing insights that would remain inaccessible through traditional methods alone.
It is also worth noting the scale and rigor of the dataset compiled for this study. Over 1,500 botanical specimens represent one of the most comprehensive samples analyzed for this region and time span, providing robustness to their conclusions. This extensive data collection underscores the commitment of the research team to unravel broad patterns rather than isolated phenomena, ensuring that the observed trends robustly reflect regional-scale agricultural strategies rather than local idiosyncrasies.
From a cultural-historical viewpoint, the prioritization of grape cultivation corroborates longstanding archaeological and textual evidence attesting to the prominence of wine in Levantine societies. Whether in religious ceremonies, social feasting, or economic exchange, wine occupied a symbolic role that transcended its nutritional value. That such importance translated into intensified irrigation investments highlights the interdependence of culture, economy, and environmental management.
In reflecting on their work, the study’s authors eloquently emphasized that ancient farmers possessed a sophisticated understanding of their environmental context and agricultural technologies: “Our research demonstrates that farmers in Southwest Asia 4,000 years ago were making decisions about which crops to plant and how to manage them, balancing the risk of harvest failure with the effort needed to irrigate, and the likely demand for their products. It reminds us that people in the past were just as smart as people today, and that seemingly modern issues like resilience to climate change and the need to allocate resources carefully have long histories.” This perspective invites a reevaluation of prehistoric and ancient agricultural societies—not as passive victims of environmental vicissitudes, but as active agents intricately managing landscapes for sustainable food production.
As climate variability continues to challenge modern agriculture, the lessons gleaned from these ancient viticultural and oleicultural traditions provide a vital historical framework for understanding adaptive capacity. Future research building upon these isotope-based methodologies may further elucidate how early innovations in water management laid the groundwork for complex civilizations in arid and semi-arid regions, reinforcing the timeless link between human ingenuity and environmental stewardship.
Subject of Research: People
Article Title: Fluctuations of viti- and oleiculture traditions in the Bronze and Iron Age Levant
News Publication Date: 17-Sep-2025
Web References: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0330032
References:
Riehl S, Deckers K, Hinojosa-Baliño I, Gröcke DR, Lawrence D (2025) Fluctuations of viti- and oleiculture traditions in the Bronze and Iron Age Levant. PLOS One 20(9): e0330032.
Image Credits: Riehl et al., 2025, PLOS One, CC-BY 4.0
Keywords: Archaeobotany, Stable Isotope Analysis, Ancient Agriculture, Irrigation, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Levant, Viticulture, Oleiculture, Climate Change, Water Stress, Ancient Near East
