Honey: The golden resource shedding light on ancient civilisations
third year, Chemistry
Can you bee-lieve it? A team of scientists, led by the University of Bristol, who have been studying the spread of honey cultivation within ancient human civilisations, have now found unique chemical evidence for its use in West Africa dating back over 3500 years ago.
Whether it is used as a sweetener or a marinade, honey is considered to be a delicacy by many around the world. Its admiration can also be seen in popular culture – through the word’s use as a term of endearment, all the way to being the favourite food a certain yellow bear. Even Manchester adopted the bee as its symbol, in order to praise their hard work ethic.
Credit: Peter Breunig, Goethe University Frankfurt
Honey is humankind s oldest sweetener - and for thousands of years it was also the only one. Indirect clues about the significance of bees and bee products are provided by prehistoric petroglyphs on various continents, created between 8,000 and 40,000 years ago. Ancient Egyptian reliefs indicate the practice of beekeeping as early as 2600 year BCE. But for sub-Saharan Africa, direct archaeological evidence has been lacking until now. The analysis of the chemical residues of food in potsherds has fundamentally altered the picture. Archaeologists at Goethe University in cooperation with chemists at the University of Bristol were able to identify beeswax residues in 3500 year-old potsherds of the Nok culture.
Date Time
Old honeypot: oldest direct evidence for honey collecting in Africa
Honey is humankind’s oldest sweetener – and for thousands of years it was also the only one. Indirect clues about the significance of bees and bee products are provided by prehistoric petroglyphs on various continents, created between 8,000 and 40,000 years ago. Ancient Egyptian reliefs indicate the practice of beekeeping as early as 2600 year BCE. But for sub-Saharan Africa, direct archaeological evidence has been lacking until now. The analysis of the chemical residues of food in potsherds has fundamentally altered the picture. Archaeologists at Goethe University in cooperation with chemists at the University of Bristol were able to identify beeswax residues in 3500 year-old potsherds of the Nok culture.