Iron Age beekeeping discovered

Researchers have found evidence of a 3,000 year old beekeeping operation in northern Israel. The apiary, consisting of somewhere between 75 and 200 beehives, contains the oldest human-made beehives ever found. From Science News:

(Hebrew University archaeologist Amihai) Mazar’s team has so far uncovered 25 cylindrical containers for bees in a structure that is centrally located in the ancient city at Tel Rehov. High brick walls surrounded the apiary. Beehives sat in three parallel rows, each containing at least three tiers. Each beehive measured 80 centimeters long and about 40 centimeters wide.

In the best-preserved beehives, one end contains a small hole for bees to enter and exit. A removable lid with a handle covers the other end.

Chemical analyses of two Tel Rehov beehives revealed degraded beeswax residue in the containers’ unfired clay walls. The researchers are now examining pollen remains and bee bodies found in charred honeycombs from inside the hives.

Iron Age beekeeping (Science News)

[#1 posted by mdhatter , September 2, 2008 10:09 AM]

Ooh, the pollen will tell us all about the crops.

more on this please!!!!!

[#2 posted by Takuan , September 2, 2008 10:15 AM]

anyone still know how to make the straw hives?

[#3 posted by Takuan , September 2, 2008 10:20 AM]

skep, bee skep was the word looked for.

[#4 posted by absimiliard , September 2, 2008 10:33 AM]

This is awesomely cool.

-me

[#5 posted by freshyill , September 2, 2008 12:23 PM]

I seem to recall this exact story from a few months ago. Not necessarily on Boing Boing.

Yeah, here's something from a year ago, but I remember hearing it more recently than that.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20588417

[#6 posted by Anonymous , September 2, 2008 12:45 PM]

Yes, Takuan, I am a treasure-house (or possibly a junk-heap) of obsolete skills.

But this one's pretty easy if you have spinning or basketmaking experience and a sawed-off bull's horn. See http://www.beedata.com/data2/skeps.html for a discussion.

--Charlie

[#7 posted by Lauren O , September 2, 2008 3:01 PM]

Okay, I was just in Northern Israel touring archaeological sites three fucking days ago. Why did no one tell me about this?!

[#8 posted by Lord Peter , September 2, 2008 5:00 PM]

Not that it's relevant, but at least in most of the near east, 3,000 years ago was the bronze age.

[#9 posted by Takuan , September 2, 2008 9:04 PM]

thanks Charlie, very detailed

[#10 posted by Asreiss , September 3, 2008 1:20 AM]

#8 -- For what it's worth, the Iron Age I in the Levant is generally assumed to have started in 1200 BCE, or thereabouts.

[#11 posted by Chevan , September 6, 2008 10:59 AM]

"A violent fire in ancient times caused walls surrounding the hives to collapse and destroy many of the bee containers. Radiocarbon measures of burned grain from the apiary floor and nearby structures provided an age estimate for the finds."

And that's why I love science. Don't know how old something is? Find something once alive and carbon date it.