The northern highlands of Ethiopia are among Africa’s oldest agricultural landscapes. Some of the world’s most important crops originated here, particularly pulses and grains, including teff. Yet another crop has a less well-known history in Ethiopia’s Tigray region: the grapevine.
We are an interdisciplinary team of geographers, agronomists and archaeologists studying long-term interactions between agriculture, landscapes and society in Ethiopia. Archaeological discoveries from the ancient Aksumite kingdom, in what’s now Ethiopia, include grape seeds, wine vessels, rock-cut wine presses, and historical records showing that grapes were cultivated in antiquity. We wanted to find out whether any of today’s grapevines could be descendants of those early introductions.
