Widespread exploitation of the honeybee by early neolithic farmers
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2015-11-11Author
Roffet-Salque, Mélanie
Regert, Martine
Evershed, Richard P.
Outram, Alan K.
Cramp, Lucy J. E.
Decavallas, Orestes
Dunne, Julie
Gerbault, Pascale
Mileto, Simona
Mirabaud, Sigrid
Pääkkönen, Mirva
Smyth, Jessica
Šoberl, 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
Domboróczki, László
Fabbri, Cristina
González-Urquijo, Jesus E.
Guilaine, Jean
Hachi, Slimane
Hartwell, Barrie N.
Hofmann, Daniela
Hohle, Isabel
Ibáñez, Juan J.
Karul, Necmi
Kherbouche, Farid
Kiely, Jacinta
Kotsakis, Kostas
Lueth, Friedrich
Mallory, James P.
Manen, Claire
Marciniak, Arkadiusz
Maurice-Chabard, Brigitte
Mc Gonigle, Martin A.
Mulazzani, Simone
Özdoğan, Mehmet
Perić, Olga S.
Perić, Slaviša R.
Petrasch, Jörg
Pétrequin, Anne-Marie
Pétrequin, Pierre
Poensgen, Ulrike
Joshua Pollard, C.
Poplin, François
Radi, Giovanna
Stadler, Peter
Stäuble, Harald
Tasić, Nenad
Urem-Kotsou, Dushka
Vuković, Jasna B.
Walsh, Fintan
Whittle, Alasdair
Wolfram, Sabine
Zapata-Peña, Lydia
Zoughlami, Jamel
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Roffet-Salque, Mélanie; Regert, Martine; Evershed, Richard P. Outram, Alan K.; Cramp, Lucy J. E.; Decavallas, Orestes; Dunne, Julie; Gerbault, Pascale; Mileto, Simona; Mirabaud, Sigrid; Pääkkönen, Mirva; Smyth, Jessica; Šoberl, 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; Domboróczki, László; Fabbri, Cristina; González-Urquijo, Jesus E.; Guilaine, Jean; Hachi, Slimane; Hartwell, Barrie N.; Hofmann, Daniela; Hohle, Isabel; Ibáñez, Juan J.; Karul, Necmi; Kherbouche, Farid; Kiely, Jacinta; Kotsakis, Kostas; Lueth, Friedrich; Mallory, James P.; Manen, Claire; Marciniak, Arkadiusz; Maurice-Chabard, Brigitte; Mc Gonigle, Martin A.; Mulazzani, Simone; Özdoğan, Mehmet; Perić, Olga S.; Perić, Slaviša R.; Petrasch, Jörg; Pétrequin, Anne-Marie; Pétrequin, Pierre; Poensgen, Ulrike; Joshua Pollard, C.; Poplin, François; Radi, Giovanna; Stadler, Peter; Stäuble, Harald; Tasić, Nenad; Urem-Kotsou, Dushka; Vuković, Jasna B.; Walsh, Fintan; Whittle, Alasdair; Wolfram, Sabine; Zapata-Peña, Lydia; Zoughlami, Jamel (2015). Widespread exploitation of the honeybee by early neolithic farmers. Nature 527 (7577),
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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 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 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.