International
scientists examined over 6,000 pottery vessels to piece together a map of the
honeybee at a time when the world had just emerged from the last Ice Age about
10,000 years ago. Lifestyles were
shifting from hunter-gathering towards growing the first crops and keeping animals
for meat, milk and skin. (par. 8-9)
Eva Crane, a renowned apiculturist, wrote in her book Honey: Past, Present, and Future, honey bees have evolved to produce honey in colonies long before mankind even existed. Crane continues by stating honey bees in the Old World have been producing honey for 10 or 20 million years. However, Crane states early man didn’t keep the bees in manmade hives, but bee hunted to cultivate the honey and the wax. Much like primates who shove a long stick into a hive, wiggle it around inside, and pull it out covered in honey, our early ancestors did the same. However, it was only a matter of time before man was able to bee-keep and not simply bee hunt. (142)
Crane states the earliest evidence we have of beekeeping for honey production dates back to Ancient Egypt where stone carvings depict horizontal manmade hives around 2400 BCE. Crane explains Ethiopians in the High Simien mountains are still making bee hives out of mud, dung, and straw, utilizing the materials around them to keep bees for honey production. She states the illustrations from Ancient Egypt are similar in resemblance to those found in Ethiopia. (142)
Shanta Barley wrote in her article, Biblical bee-keepers picked the best bees, researchers have found evidence of beehives in ancient Near East in modern day Tel Rehov, Israel. The picture below shows the uncovered clay tubes. Barley states, “Each one has a hole on one side which would have served as a “bee flap” and a lid on the opposite side to give bee-keepers access to the honeycomb” (par. 3).
Ancient
Beehive. Bees used these holes to enter and exit from the ancient clay hives
at Tel Rehov, Israel.
(Image: Hebrew
University of Jerusalem)
Mark
Grossmann, an apiculturist, explains the mud, clay, and dung hives our ancient
ancestors once used are still used today, but with a little better technique
(as pictured below). He states, “Throughout the [Old World], unbaked mud, straw,
clay and dung were shaped into long tubes—something like the modern baked clay
tile” (par. 2). Inside the tubes, bees were able to build combs and fill them with honey.
Once the beekeeper was ready to harvest the honey, they would smoke one end of
the tube, driving the bees out the other end. Then, they would harvest the
honey, just as we do today.
Mud and Clay Tube Beehives, 2014.
(Image: Mark Grossmann)
Some of our techniques for harvesting honey have evolved, but our ancestors were the ones to bee-keep with intent to harvest the byproducts of socialized bees. Today, just as in the past, honey is still a commodity people seek out for food, medicinal purposes, and tools.
Work
Cited
“Ancient Beehive.” 2010. Hebrew University of Jerusalem. New Scientist, newscientist.com/article/dn19013-biblical-bee-keepers-picked-the-best-bees/
Barley, Shanta. “Biblical bee-keepers picked the best bees.” New Scientist, 07 June 2010, www.newscientist.com/article/dn19013-biblical-bee-keepers-picked-the-best-bees/
Briggs, Helen. “Prehistoric farmers were first beekeepers.” BBC News, 11 Nov. 2015, www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34749846
Crane, Eva. “Honey: Past, Present, and Future.” American Bee Journal, vol. 117, no. 3, 1977, pp. 142-145.
Grossmann, Mark. “Hive: What is a “Mud and Clay Tube Beehives”?” Grossmann’s Hives. 11 Sept. 2014. grossmannsbees.wordpress.com/2014/09/11/hive-what-is-a-mud-and-clay-bee-hive/
Grossmann, Mark. “Mud and Clay Beehives.” Grossmann’s Hives. 11 Sept. 2014. grossmannsbees.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/p1040978.jpg
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