Widespread exploitation of the honeybee by early Neolithic farmers
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2015
Authors
Roffet-Salque, Melanie
Regert, Martine
Evershed, Richard R.
Outram, Alan K.

Cramp, Lucy J. E.

Decavallas, Orestes
Dunne, Julie
Gerbault, Pascale
Mileto, Simona

Mirabaud, Sigrid
Paakkonen, Mirva
Smyth, Jessica

Soberl, Lucija
Whelton, Helen L.

Alday-Ruiz, Alfonso

Asplund, Henrik
Bartkowiak, Marta
Bayer-Niemeier, Eva
Belhouchet, Lotfi
Bernardini, Federico

Budja, Mihael
Cooney, Gabriel
Cubas, Miriam

Danaher, Ed M.
Diniz, Mariana
Domboroczki, Laszlo
Fabbri, Cristina
Gonzalez-Urquijo, Jesus E.

Guilaine, Jean
Hachi, Slimane
Hartwell, Barrie N.
Hofmann, Daniela
Hohle, Isabel
Ibanez, Juan J.
Karul, Necmi
Kherbouche, Farid
Kiely, Jacinta
Kotsakis, Kostas
Lueth, Friedrich
Mallory, James P.
Manen, Claire
Marciniak, Arkadiusz
Maurice-Chabard, Brigitte
McGonigle, Martin A.
Mulazzani, Simone
Ozdogan, Mehmet
Peric, Olga S.
Perić, Slaviša

Petrasch, Joerg

Petrequin, Anne-Marie
Petrequie, Pierre
Poensgen, Ulrike
Pollard, Joshua C.
Poplin, Francois
Radi, Giovanna
Stadler, Peter
Staeuble, Harald
Tasić, Nenad
Urem-Kotsou, Dushka
Vukovic, Jasna B.
Walsh, Fintan
Whittle, Alasdair
Wolfram, Sabine
Zapata-Pena, Lydia
Zoughlami, Jamel
Article (Published version)

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Show full item recordAbstract
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 art(2) in a prehistoric Holocene context and a beeswax find in a pre-agriculturalist site(3). However, when and where the regular association of A. mellifera with agriculturalists emerged is unknown(4). 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 compos...ition 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.
Keywords:
honeybee / Neolithic farmersSource:
Nature, 2015, 527, 7577, 226-+Publisher:
- Nature Publishing Group, London
Funding / projects:
- UK Natural Environment Research CouncilUK Research & Innovation (UKRI)Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) [R8/H10/63]
- English Heritage
- European Research CouncilEuropean Research Council (ERC)European Commission
- Leverhulme TrustLeverhulme Trust
- Ministere de la Culture et de la Communication
- Ministere de l'Enseignement Superieur et de la Recherche (ACI Jeunes Chercheurs)
- Natural Environment Research CouncilUK Research & Innovation (UKRI)Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
- Region PACARegion Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur
- Royal SocietyRoyal Society of LondonEuropean Commission
- Wellcome TrustWellcome TrustEuropean Commission
- NERCUK Research & Innovation (UKRI)Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) [NE/F021054/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- Natural Environment Research CouncilUK Research & Innovation (UKRI)Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) [1257864, NE/F021054/1] Funding Source: researchfish
DOI: 10.1038/nature15757
ISSN: 0028-0836
PubMed: 26560301