Evidence of the presence of beeswax in the pottery pots of the first farmers in Europe
According to a new study published today in the journal Nature by the University of Bristol, humans began using bees as early as the Stone Age.
Previous evidence from prehistoric rock art has been inferred as honey hunters, and Egyptian pharaoh murals show scenes of early beekeeping. However, the close relationship between early farmers and bees remains uncertain.
This study collected evidence of the presence of beeswax in the pottery pots of the first farmers in Europe by investigating the chemical composition of clay fabrics from more than 6000 pieces of pottery from more than 150 Old World archaeological sites.
The unique chemical “fingerprints” of beeswax have been found at various Neolithic sites in Europe, indicating how extensive the connection between humans and bees was in prehistoric times. For example, beeswax was found in the cooking pot of an archaeological site in Türkiye, dating back to 7000 BC, which is the oldest evidence that farmers used bee products in the Neolithic Age.
This paper brings together the research results of the Bristol Organic Geochemistry Unit (School of Chemistry), led by Professor Richard Evershed, over 20 years ago. The co authors of this paper include archaeologists who participated in large-scale surveys of sites in Europe, the Near East, and North Africa.
Dr. Mélanie Roffet-Salque, the first author of the paper, said, “The most obvious reason for using bees is for honey, as it was a rare sweetener for prehistoric humans.” However, beeswax itself can be used for various technical, ritual, cosmetic, and medicinal purposes, such as in waterproof porous ceramic containers. ”
The lack of evidence of the use of beeswax at Neolithic sites north of 57 degrees north latitude (such as Scotland and Finnocandia) indicates that there were ecological constraints to the natural reproduction of bees at that time.
Professor Evershede said, “The lack of bee fossils means that bees have been ecologically invisible for most of the past 10000 years.” Although evidence from ancient Egyptian murals and prehistoric rock art suggests that the connection between humans and bees can be traced back thousands of years, the time and location of this connection has been unknown – until now.
“Our research is the first to provide clear evidence, based solely on chemical ‘fingerprints’, for the paleoecological distribution of an economically and culturally significant animal. It shows the widespread exploitation of bees by early farmers and pushes back the chronology of human contact with bees to an earlier time.”
