Moin91
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Wednesday, September 05, 2007
OCCUPIED-AL-QUDS: Archaeologists digging in northern Israel have discovered evidence of a 3,000-year-old bee-keeping industry, including remnants of ancient honeycombs, beeswax and what they believe are the oldest intact beehives ever found.
The findings in the ruins of the city of Rehov include 30 intact hives dating to around 900 BC, archaeologist Amihai Mazar of Hebrew University told The Associated Press. He sad it offers unique evidence that an advanced honey industry existed in the Holy Land at the time of the Bible. Beekeeping was widely practiced in the ancient world, where honey used for medicinal and religious purposes as well as for food, and beeswax was used to make moulds for metal and to create surfaces to write on. While portrayals of bees and beekeeping are known in ancient artwork, nothing similar to the Rehov hives has ever been found before, Mazar said.
The beehives, made of straw and unbaked clay, have a hole at one end to allow the bees in and out and a lid on the other end to allow beekeepers access to the honeycombs inside. They were found in orderly rows, three high, in a room that could have accommodated around 100 hives, Mazar said.
You can tell that this was an organised industry, part of an organised economy, in an ultra-organised city, Mazar said. At the time the beehives were in use, Mazar believes Rehov had around 2,000 residents, a mix of Israelites, Canaanites and others.
Ezra Marcus, an expert on the ancient Mediterranean world at Haifa University, said the finding was a unique glimpse into ancient beekeeping. Marcus was not involved in the Rehov excavation.
We have seen depictions of beekeeping in texts and ancient art from the Near East, but this is the first time weve been able to actually feel and see the industry, Marcus said. The finding is especially unique, Marcus said, because of its location in the middle of a thriving city - a strange place for thousands of bees.
This might have been because the citys ruler wanted the industry under his control, Marcus said, or because the beekeeping industry was linked to residents religious practices, as might be indicated by an altar decorated with fertility figurines that archaeologists found alongside the hives.
3,000-year-old beehives found
OCCUPIED-AL-QUDS: Archaeologists digging in northern Israel have discovered evidence of a 3,000-year-old bee-keeping industry, including remnants of ancient honeycombs, beeswax and what they believe are the oldest intact beehives ever found.
The findings in the ruins of the city of Rehov include 30 intact hives dating to around 900 BC, archaeologist Amihai Mazar of Hebrew University told The Associated Press. He sad it offers unique evidence that an advanced honey industry existed in the Holy Land at the time of the Bible. Beekeeping was widely practiced in the ancient world, where honey used for medicinal and religious purposes as well as for food, and beeswax was used to make moulds for metal and to create surfaces to write on. While portrayals of bees and beekeeping are known in ancient artwork, nothing similar to the Rehov hives has ever been found before, Mazar said.
The beehives, made of straw and unbaked clay, have a hole at one end to allow the bees in and out and a lid on the other end to allow beekeepers access to the honeycombs inside. They were found in orderly rows, three high, in a room that could have accommodated around 100 hives, Mazar said.
You can tell that this was an organised industry, part of an organised economy, in an ultra-organised city, Mazar said. At the time the beehives were in use, Mazar believes Rehov had around 2,000 residents, a mix of Israelites, Canaanites and others.
Ezra Marcus, an expert on the ancient Mediterranean world at Haifa University, said the finding was a unique glimpse into ancient beekeeping. Marcus was not involved in the Rehov excavation.
We have seen depictions of beekeeping in texts and ancient art from the Near East, but this is the first time weve been able to actually feel and see the industry, Marcus said. The finding is especially unique, Marcus said, because of its location in the middle of a thriving city - a strange place for thousands of bees.
This might have been because the citys ruler wanted the industry under his control, Marcus said, or because the beekeeping industry was linked to residents religious practices, as might be indicated by an altar decorated with fertility figurines that archaeologists found alongside the hives.
3,000-year-old beehives found
