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Widespread exploitation of the honeybee by early Neolithic farmers

Nature volume 527, pages 226–230 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

The pressures on honeybee (Apis mellifera) populations, resulting from threats by modern pesticides, parasites, predators and diseases, have raised awareness of the economic importance and critical role this insect plays in agricultural societies across the globe. However, the association of humans with A. mellifera predates post-industrial-revolution agriculture, as evidenced by the widespread presence of ancient Egyptian bee iconography dating to the Old Kingdom (approximately 2400 bc)1. There are also indications of Stone Age people harvesting bee products; for example, honey hunting is interpreted from rock art2 in a prehistoric Holocene context and a beeswax find in a pre-agriculturalist site3. However, when and where the regular association of A. mellifera with agriculturalists emerged is unknown4. One of the major products of A. mellifera is beeswax, which is composed of a complex suite of lipids including n-alkanes, n-alkanoic acids and fatty acyl wax esters. The composition is highly constant as it is determined genetically through the insect’s biochemistry. Thus, the chemical ‘fingerprint’ of beeswax provides a reliable basis for detecting this commodity in organic residues preserved at archaeological sites, which we now use to trace the exploitation by humans of A. mellifera temporally and spatially. Here we present secure identifications of beeswax in lipid residues preserved in pottery vessels of Neolithic Old World farmers. The geographical range of bee product exploitation is traced in Neolithic Europe, the Near East and North Africa, providing the palaeoecological range of honeybees during prehistory. Temporally, we demonstrate that bee products were exploited continuously, and probably extensively in some regions, at least from the seventh millennium cal bc, likely fulfilling a variety of technological and cultural functions. The close association of A. mellifera with Neolithic farming communities dates to the early onset of agriculture and may provide evidence for the beginnings of a domestication process.

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Figure 1: High-temperature gas chromatography/mass spectrometry chromatograms of total lipid extract of a sherd from Çayönü Tepesi (6500–6000 cal bc) containing beeswax.
Figure 2: Partial gas chromatograms of total lipid extracts from Neolithic sherds from each geographical region.
Figure 3: Geographical distribution of prehistoric sites in the date range 7500 and 2000 cal bc yielding beeswax residues.
Figure 4: Regional distribution of beeswax residues in potsherd lipid extracts.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the UK Natural Environment Research Council for partial funding of the mass spectrometry facilities at Bristol (contract no. R8/H10/63; http://www.lsmsf.co.uk) and English Heritage, European Research Council, Leverhulme Trust, Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche (ACI Jeunes Chercheurs), Natural Environment Research Council, Région PACA, Royal Society and Wellcome Trust for funding.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Sigrid Mirabaud, Lucija Šoberl & Miriam Cubas

    Present address: †Present addresses: Département des restaurateurs, Institut National du Patrimoine, 124 rue Henri Barbusse, 93300 Aubervilliers, France (S.M.); Laboratório HERCULES, Universidade de Évora, Palácio do Vimioso, Largo Marquês de Marialva 8, 7000-809 Évora, Portugal (L.S.); BioArCh–University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK (M.C).,

  2. Lydia Zapata-Peña: Deceased.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Organic Geochemistry Unit, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock’s Close, BS8 1TS, Bristol, UK

    Mélanie Roffet-Salque, Richard P. Evershed, Lucy J. E. Cramp, Julie Dunne, Simona Mileto, Mirva Pääkkönen, Jessica Smyth, Lucija Šoberl & Helen L. Whelton

  2. CEPAM – Cultures et Environnements. Préhistoire, Antiquité, Moyen Âge, UMR 7264, Université Nice Sophia Antipolis – CNRS, Nice, 06300, France

    Martine Regert

  3. Department of Archaeology, University of Exeter, Laver Building, North Park Road, Exeter, EX4 4QE, Devon, UK

    Alan K. Outram

  4. Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Bristol, 43 Woodland Road, Bristol, BS8 1UU, UK

    Lucy J. E. Cramp & Jessica Smyth

  5. Université Bordeaux Montaigne, Pessac, 33607, France

    Orestes Decavallas

  6. Laboratoire du Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France (C2RMF), UMR 171, Palais du Louvre, Porte des Lions, 14 Quai François Mitterrand, Paris, 75001, France

    Orestes Decavallas & Sigrid Mirabaud

  7. Research Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

    Pascale Gerbault

  8. Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, WC1H 0BW, UK

    Pascale Gerbault

  9. Institut für Prähistorische Archäologie, Freie Universität Berlin, Altensteinstr. 15, Berlin, 14195, Germany

    Simona Mileto

  10. Department of Archaeology, University of Turku, Turun, 20014, Yliopisto, Finland

    Mirva Pääkkönen & Henrik Asplund

  11. Department of Archaeology, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, Aškerčeva 2, box 580, Ljubljana, 1000, Slovenia

    Lucija Šoberl & Mihael Budja

  12. Department of Geography, Prehistory and Archaeology. University of Basque Country (EHU-UPV), Francisco Tomás y Valiente s/n, Vitoria-Gasteiz, 01006, Spain

    Alfonso Alday-Ruiz & Lydia Zapata-Peña

  13. Institute of Prehistory, Adam Mickiewicz University, Umultowska 89d, Poznań, 61-614, Poland

    Marta Bartkowiak & Arkadiusz Marciniak

  14. Museum Quintana – Archäologie in Künzing, Partnermuseum der Archäologischen Staatssammlung München, Osterhofener Str. 2, Künzing, 94550, Germany

    Eva Bayer-Niemeier

  15. Musée Archéologique de Sousse, Rue Marshall Tito, Sousse, 4000, Tunisia

    Lotfi Belhouchet

  16. Centro Fermi, Museo Storico della Fisica e Centro di Studi e Ricerche Enrico Fermi, Rome, 00184, Italy

    Federico Bernardini

  17. Multidisciplinary Laboratory, The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, 34151, Italy

    Federico Bernardini

  18. UCD School of Archaeology, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland

    Gabriel Cooney

  19. International Institute for Prehistoric Research of Cantabria, University of Cantabria, Avd de los Castros s/n, Santander, 39005, Spain

    Miriam Cubas & Jesus E. González-Urquijo

  20. Department of Archaeology, University College Galway, Galway, Ireland

    Ed M. Danaher

  21. UNIARQ-Departamento de História, Faculdade de Letras de Lisboa, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, 1600-214, Portugal

    Mariana Diniz

  22. István Dobó Castle Museum, Vár út 1, Eger, 3300, Hungary

    László Domboróczki

  23. Dipartimento Civiltà e Forme del Sapere, Università di Pisa, Via Galvani 1, Pisa, 56126, Italy

    Cristina Fabbri & Giovanna Radi

  24. CNRS – UMR 5608 – TRACES, Maison de la recherche, Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès, 5 Allée Antonio Machado, Toulouse cedex 9, 31058, France

    Jean Guilaine & Claire Manen

  25. CNRPAH, Centre National de Recherche Préhistorique, Anthropologique et Historique, Algiers, Algeria

    Slimane Hachi & Farid Kherbouche

  26. School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, BT7 1NN,, UK

    Barrie N. Hartwell & James P. Mallory

  27. Universität Hamburg, Archäologisches Institut, Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1, Flügel West, Hamburg, 20146, Germany

    Daniela Hofmann

  28. a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School for the Humanities Cologne, Graduiertenschule der Philosophischen Fakultät, Aachener Str. 217, Cologne, 50931, Germany

    Isabel Hohle

  29. IMF-CSIC, Egipciacas 15, Barcelona, 08001, Spain

    Juan J. Ibáñez

  30. Department of Prehistory, Istanbul University, Faculty of Letters, Laleli Istanbul, 34434, Turkey

    Necmi Karul & Mehmet Özdoğan

  31. Eachtra Archaeological Projects, Lickybeg, Clashmore, County Waterford, Ireland

    Jacinta Kiely

  32. School of History and Archaeology, Faculty of Philosophy, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, 54124, Greece

    Kostas Kotsakis

  33. German Archaeological Institute, Podbielskiallee 69-71, Berlin, 14 195, Germany

    Friedrich Lueth

  34. Musée Rolin, 3 rue des Bancs, Autun, 71400, France

    Brigitte Maurice-Chabard

  35. John Cronin & Associates, 28 Upper Main Street, Buncrana, County Donegal, Ireland

    Martin A. Mc Gonigle

  36. Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, UMR 7269 LAMPEA, LabexMed, 13284 Marseille, France,

    Simone Mulazzani

  37. Dipartimento di Biologia Ambientale, Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, Rome, 00185, Italy

    Simone Mulazzani

  38. Institute of Archaeology Belgrade, Kneza Mihaila 35/4, Belgrade, 11000, Serbia

    Olga S. Perić & Slaviša R. Perić

  39. Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte und Archäologie des Mittelalters - Abt. Jüngere Urgeschichte und Frühgeschichte - Schloß Hohentübingen, Tübingen, 72070, Germany

    Jörg Petrasch

  40. Maison des Sciences de l’Homme et de l’Environnement C.N. Ledoux, CNRS & Université de Franche-Comté, 32 rue Mégevand, Besançon Cedex, 25030, France

    Anne-Marie Pétrequin & Pierre Pétrequin

  41. Kämpfenstr. 20, Radolfzell, 78315, Germany

    Ulrike Poensgen

  42. Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Southampton, Avenue Campus, Highfield, SO17 1BF, Southampton, UK

    C. Joshua Pollard

  43. Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, 55 rue de Buffon, Paris, 75005, France

    François Poplin

  44. Department of Pre- and Protohistory, University of Vienna, Vienna, 1190, Austria

    Peter Stadler

  45. Landesamt für Archaeologie, Zur Wetterwarte 7, Dresden, 01109, Germany

    Harald Stäuble

  46. Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Philosophy, Belgrade University, 18–20 Čika Ljubina Street, Belgrade, 11000, Serbia

    Nenad Tasić & Jasna B. Vuković

  47. Department of History and Ethnology, Democritus University of Thrace, Komotini, Greece

    Dushka Urem-Kotsou

  48. Irish Archaeological Consultancy, Unit G1, Network Enterprise Park, Kilcoole, County Wicklow, Ireland

    Fintan Walsh

  49. Department of Archaeology and Conservation, Cardiff University, John Percival Building, Colum Drive, Cardiff, CF10 3EU, UK

    Alasdair Whittle

  50. State Museum of Archaeology Chemnitz, Stefan-Heym-Platz 1, Chemnitz, 09111, Germany

    Sabine Wolfram

  51. Institut National du Patrimoine de Tunis - Musée archéologique de Carthage, Carthage, Tunisia

    Jamel Zoughlami

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  1. Mélanie Roffet-Salque
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  2. Martine Regert
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  3. Richard P. Evershed
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  4. Alan K. Outram
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Contributions

M.R.-S., M.R., R.P.E. and A.K.O. conceived and planned the project about beeswax in prehistory. M.R.-S., M.R. and R.P.E. wrote the paper. M.R.-S., M.R., L.J.E.C., O.D., J.D., S.Mil., S.Mir., M.P., J.S., L.S., H.L.W., M.Bart. and D.U.-K. undertook planning of regional lipid residue analyses projects, sampling, analytical work and data analysis. P.G. created Figure 4 and Supplementary Information section 3. All other authors either directed excavations or provided expertise in relation to pottery collections and essential insights into the study region and sites.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Mélanie Roffet-Salque, Martine Regert or Richard P. Evershed.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

This file contains Supplementary Information sections 1-3. Section 1 contains a table showing Neolithic sites from which sherds were analysed with summary of results of lipid residue analyses. Mesolithic sites were added where available. Section 2 contains a table showing archaeological contexts for sherds containing beeswax. Section 3 contains statistical analysis of the lipid residue dataset. (PDF 305 kb)

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Roffet-Salque, M., Regert, M., Evershed, R. et al. Widespread exploitation of the honeybee by early Neolithic farmers. Nature 527, 226–230 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature15757

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