Researchers in Israel led by Tel Aviv University have uncovered commercial-scale viticulture in ancient Byzantine and Early Islamic settlements dated to the 4th to the 9th centuries. In a paper, "Ancient DNA from a lost Negev Highlands desert grape reveals a Late Antiquity wine lineage," published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers link the ancient varieties to grapes grown in modern-day Greece and the southern Levant.
