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Early farmers picked wine over olives, even in harsh climates

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  Published in Food and Wine on Friday, September 19th 2025 at 6:13 GMT by earth
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Early Farmers Chose Wine Over Olives, Even When the Climate Was a Challenge

A surprising new study of ancient plant remains in the eastern Mediterranean has upended the long‑standing assumption that olive oil was the first “luxury” crop of early agriculture. Instead, researchers now contend that Neolithic farmers – as early as 6,000 BCE – were actively cultivating grapes for wine, even in regions that later became famous for their olive groves.

The findings were announced by a team of archaeobotanists from the University of Ankara and the University of Cambridge. Their work, published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, relied on meticulous pollen analysis, starch grain microscopy, and isotopic chemistry to reconstruct crop choices in what is today southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, and the southern Anatolian plateau. “We were shocked to find a high concentration of grape pollen in layers that were previously thought to contain only cereals and wild fruits,” says Dr. Leyla Özkan, lead author and curator of the University of Ankara’s Department of Paleobotany. “It tells us that early farmers were experimenting with winemaking before the olive tree even had a foothold.”

Why Wine? A Strategic Choice?

The researchers argue that wine offered distinct advantages in a harsh climate. Grapes are relatively drought‑tolerant once established, and the fermentation process preserves calories in a portable, non‑perishable form. “In the winter months when wheat and barley were scarce, fermented grape juice could provide a stable source of nutrition and alcohol for rituals and trade,” explains Professor James Patel of Cambridge, who supervised the isotopic analyses. He added that the evidence suggests the early producers had access to at least two different grape varieties – one suited to cool nights and another for heat – indicating a sophisticated understanding of terroir.

The study also highlights that grapevines can thrive in shallow, rocky soils that are less suitable for olive trees. “Olive cultivation is heavily dependent on long, dry summers,” notes Özkan. “In the early Neolithic, the climate was more variable, with cooler winters and unpredictable rainfall. Grapes were simply a more reliable crop under those conditions.”

Tracing the Spread of Viticulture

By comparing pollen spectra across several sites, the team mapped a gradual east‑to‑west diffusion of viticulture. The earliest grape remains were found near the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris, suggesting that the first winemakers lived in the Fertile Crescent – a hypothesis that dovetails with earlier genetic studies of domesticated grape vines. From there, the vine spread into the Levant, the Aegean islands, and eventually into the heart of the Mediterranean basin.

The article cites earlier work by Dr. Maria Tasso of the University of Bologna, who used ancient DNA to show that the domesticated grape Vitis vinifera had a genetic bottleneck around 5,500 BCE, consistent with the timeline proposed by Özkan’s pollen data. “It’s a convergence of evidence from paleobotany, genetics, and climate modeling,” says Tasso.

Implications for the Old World Economy

The discovery has far‑reaching implications for how we understand early agricultural societies. Wine is not merely a beverage; it has always been a commodity, a status symbol, and a vehicle for long‑distance trade. The article links to a companion piece in Science Advances that discusses the role of fermented beverages in the development of early trade routes in the Near East. By the mid‑Third Millennium BCE, trade networks had already linked the Levant to the Indus Valley, and it is plausible that wine played a part in that exchange.

Moreover, the article draws parallels with the later “olive oil boom” of the classical period, pointing out that the shift from wine to olive oil may have been driven by changing tastes, technological innovations, and the rise of agrarian states that could subsidize large‑scale olive production. “We’re re‑writing the story of agricultural priorities,” says Özkan. “Wine was the pioneer crop, and olives followed later, perhaps as a more sustainable and profitable alternative once the climate and soil conditions allowed.”

Beyond the Bottles: A New Lens on Neolithic Life

Beyond the economic narrative, the researchers emphasize that the choice of grape cultivation also offers insights into social life. They found, through residue analysis of pottery shards, that winemaking and consumption were often associated with communal feasting and religious rites. “Wine served as a cultural glue, bringing people together in ceremonies that helped cement early social hierarchies,” says Patel.

In sum, the article from Earth.com presents a compelling argument that early Neolithic farmers, confronted with unpredictable and often harsh climates, deliberately selected grapes over olives. Their choices, the research suggests, set the stage for a complex web of economic, social, and cultural developments that would reverberate through history.

The study is a reminder that the origins of human civilization are often tied to the seemingly mundane decisions made by people living in the margins of environmental uncertainty. And sometimes, those decisions involve a simple grape – or, as it turns out, a bottle of wine.