Editing Beekeeping (section)

=== Early history ===
[[File:Cueva arana.svg|thumb|upright=0.5|Honey seeker depicted on 8,000-year-old [[cave painting]] near [[Valencia, Spain]]<ref>{{cite web | last =Traynor | first =Kirsten | title =Ancient Cave Painting Man of Bicorp | publisher =MD Bee | url =http://www.mdbee.com/articles/cavepainting.html | access-date =2008-03-12 | archive-date =2019-10-20 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20191020212649/http://www.mdbee.com/articles/cavepainting.html | url-status =dead }}</ref>]]
At least 10,000 years ago, humans began to attempt to maintain colonies of wild bees in artificial [[bee hive|hives]] made from hollow logs, wooden boxes, pottery vessels, and woven straw baskets known as [[skep]]s. Depictions of humans collecting honey from wild bees date to 10,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Dams|first1=M.|last2=Dams|first2=L.|title=Spanish Rock Art Depicting Honey Gathering During the Mesolithic|journal=Nature|date=21 July 1977|volume=268|issue=5617|pages=228–230|doi=10.1038/268228a0|bibcode=1977Natur.268..228D|s2cid=4177275}}</ref> Beekeeping in pottery vessels began about 9,000 years ago in North Africa.<ref name=9kya>{{cite journal|last=Roffet-Salque|first=Mélanie|display-authors=et al|title=Widespread exploitation of the honeybee by early Neolithic farmers|journal=Nature|date=14 June 2016|volume=534|issue=7607|pages=226–227|doi=10.1038/nature18451|pmid=26560301|doi-access=free|hdl=10379/13692|hdl-access=free}}</ref> Traces of beeswax have been found in potsherds throughout the Middle East beginning about 7,000 BCE.<ref name=9kya/> In the [[Borjomi]] region of [[Georgia_(country)|Georgia]], archaeologists discovered the world's oldest known honey, dating back approximately 5,500 years, highlighting Georgia's ancient beekeeping traditions and the ritual use of honey in burial practices.<ref>{{cite web |title=The world's oldest honey was found in Georgia |url=https://georgiavoyage.ge/en/event/the-worlds-oldest-honey-was-found-in-georgia/ |website=GeorgiaVoyage |access-date=19 March 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Lomsadze |first1=Giorgi |title=Report: Georgia Unearths the World’s Oldest Honey |url=https://eurasianet.org/report-georgia-unearths-the-worlds-oldest-honey |website=Eurasianet |access-date=19 March 2025}}</ref> [[Western honey bee#Domestication|Domestication of bees]] is shown in Egyptian art from around 4,500 years ago.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Crane |first1=Eva |title=The world history of beekeeping and honey hunting |date=1999 |publisher=Duckworth |location=London |isbn=9780715628270 }}</ref> Simple hives and smoke were used, and honey was stored in jars, some of which were found in the tombs of pharaohs such as [[Tutankhamun]]. In the 18th century, European understanding of the colonies and biology of bees allowed the construction of the movable comb hive so honey could be harvested without destroying the entire colony.

Honeybees were kept in Egypt from antiquity.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/timelines/topics/beekeeping.htm |title=Ancient Egypt: Bee-keeping |website=Reshafim.org.il |date=2003-04-06 |access-date=2016-03-12 |archive-date=2016-03-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309203227/http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/timelines/topics/beekeeping.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> On the walls of the [[Egyptian sun temple|sun temple]] of [[Nyuserre Ini]] from the [[Fifth Dynasty]] before 2,422 BCE, workers are depicted blowing smoke into hives as they remove [[honeycomb]]s.<ref name="Bodenheimer1960">{{cite book | title=Animal and Man in Bible Lands | first=F. S. | last=Bodenheimer | publisher=Brill Archive | year=1960 | page=79}}</ref> Inscriptions detailing the production of honey are found on the tomb of [[Pabasa]] from the [[Twenty-sixth Dynasty]] {{circa|650 BCE}}, in which cylindrical hives are depicted along with people pouring honey into jars.<ref>[http://www.agropolis.fr/pdf/rencontres-apiculture-2008/pays/Egypte.pdf]{{dead link|date=March 2016}}</ref>

An inscription records the introduction of honey bees into the land of [[Suhum]] in [[Mesopotamia]], where they were previously unknown:{{blockquote | I am Shamash-resh-ușur, the governor of Suhu and the land of [[Mari, Syria|Mari]]. Bees that collect honey, which none of my ancestors had ever seen or brought into the land of Suhu, I brought down from the mountain of the men of Habha, and made them settle in the orchards of the town 'Gabbari-built-it'. They collect honey and wax, and I know how to melt the honey and wax – and the gardeners know too.

Whoever comes in the future, may he ask the old men of the town, (who will say) thus: "They are the buildings of Shamash-resh-ușur, the governor of Suhu, who introduced honey bees into the land of Suhu". | translated text from Stele|(Dalley, 2002)<ref name="Dalley2002">{{cite book | title=Mari and Karana: Two Old Babylonian Cities | last=Dalley | first=S. | edition=2 | publisher=Gorgias Press LLC | year=2002 | isbn=978-1-931956-02-4 | page=203}}</ref>}}

The oldest archaeological finds directly relating to beekeeping have been discovered at [[Rehov]], a [[Bronze Age|Bronze]] and [[Iron Age]] archaeological site in the [[Jordan Valley (Middle East)|Jordan Valley]], Israel.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/india-news/oldest-known-archaeological-example-of-beekeeping-discovered-in-israel_10091110.html |title=Oldest known archaeological example of beekeeping discovered in Israel |website=Thaindian.com |date=2008-09-01 |access-date=2016-03-12 |archive-date=2015-11-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117161429/http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/india-news/oldest-known-archaeological-example-of-beekeeping-discovered-in-israel_10091110.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Thirty intact hives made of straw and unbaked clay were discovered in the ruins of the city, dating from about 900 BCE, by archaeologist [[Amihai Mazar]]. The hives were found in orderly rows, three high, in a manner that according to Mazar could have accommodated around 100 hives, held more than one million bees and had a potential annual yield of {{Convert|500|kg|lb|abbr=out|sp=us}} of honey and {{Convert|70|kg|lb|abbr=out|sp=us}} of beeswax, and are evidence an advanced honey industry in [[Tel Rehov]], Israel 3,000 years ago.<ref>[[Amihai Mazar|Mazar, Amihai]] and Panitz-Cohen, Nava, (December 2007) [https://web.archive.org/web/20100702230514/http://www.rehov.org/Rehov/publications/Mazar_NEA70_4.pdf ''It Is the Land of Honey: Beekeeping at Tel Rehov''] Near Eastern Archaeology, Volume 70, Number 4, {{ISSN|1094-2076}}</ref><ref>Friedman, Matti (September 4, 2007), [https://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/discoveries/2007-09-04-israel-ancient-beekeeping_N.htm "Israeli archaeologists find 3,000-year-old beehives"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220119131314/https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/science/discoveries/2007-09-04-israel-ancient-beekeeping_N.htm |date=2022-01-19 }} in ''[[USA Today]]'', Retrieved 2010-01-04</ref><ref name="Honey Hunting' 1999">[[Eva Crane|Crane, Eva]] ''The World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting'', Routledge 1999, {{ISBN|978-0-415-92467-2}}, 720 pp.</ref>

[[File:Die Bienenzüchter (Bruegel).jpg|thumb|upright=1.32|''The Beekeepers'', 1568, by [[Pieter Bruegel the Elder]]]]

In [[ancient Greece]], in [[Crete]] and [[Mycenae]], there existed a system of high-status apiculture that is evidenced by the finds of hives, smoking pots, honey extractors and other beekeeping paraphernalia in [[Knossos]]. Beekeeping was considered a highly valued industry controlled by beekeeping overseers—owners of gold rings depicting apiculture scenes rather than religious ones as they have been reinterpreted recently, contra [[Sir Arthur Evans]].<ref>{{cite book |author1=Haralampos V. Harissis |author2=Anastasios V. Harissis |title=Apiculture in the Prehistoric Aegean. Minoan and Mycenaean Symbols Revisited |publisher=British Archaeological Reports |location=[[Oxford]], England |date=2009 |isbn=9781407304540 |url=https://www.academia.edu/1259037 |access-date=2016-03-12 |archive-date=2022-01-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220119131256/https://www.academia.edu/1259037 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Aspects of the lives of bees and beekeeping are discussed at length by [[Aristotle]]. Beekeeping was also documented by the [[ancient Rome|Roman]] writers [[Virgil]], [[Gaius Julius Hyginus]], [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]], and [[Columella]].<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Islam|first1=M. R.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GzJcCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT142|title=The Greening of Pharmaceutical Engineering, Practice, Analysis, and Methodology|last2=Islam|first2=Jaan S.|last3=Zatzman|first3=Gary M.|last4=Rahman|first4=M. Safiur|last5=Mughal|first5=M. A. H.|date=2015-12-03|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-119-18421-8|language=en}}</ref>

Beekeeping has been practiced in [[ancient China]] since antiquity. In a book written by [[Fan Li]] (or Tao Zhu Gong) during the [[Spring and Autumn period]] are sections describing beekeeping, stressing the importance of the quality of the wooden box used and its effects on the quality of the honey.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Chantawannakul|first1=Panuwan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dYteDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA131|title=Asian Beekeeping in the 21st Century|last2=Williams|first2=Geoffrey|last3=Neumann|first3=Peter|year=2018|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-981-10-8222-1|language=en}}</ref> The Chinese word for honey ''mi'' ({{lang-zh|c={{lang|zh-Hant|{{linktext|蜜}}}}|p=Mì}}), reconstructed [[Old Chinese]] pronunciation {{IPA|*mjit}}) was borrowed from [[proto-Tocharian language|proto-Tocharian]] *''ḿət(ə)'' (where *''ḿ'' is [[Palatalization (phonetics)|palatalized]]; cf. Tocharian B ''mit''), cognate with English ''{{linktext|mead}}''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Meier|first1=Kristin|last2=Peyrot|first2=Michaël|date=2017|title=The Word for "Honey" in Chinese, Tocharian and Sino-Vietnamese|journal=Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft|volume=167|issue=1|pages=7–22|doi=10.13173/zeitdeutmorggese.167.1.0007|jstor=10.13173/zeitdeutmorggese.167.1.0007|issn=0341-0137}}</ref>

The ancient [[Maya civilization|Maya]] domesticated a species of [[Stingless bee#Mayan stingless bees of Central America|stingless bee]], which they used for several purposes, including making [[balché]], a [[mead]]-like alcoholic drink.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kent|first=Robert B.|date=1984|title=Mesoamerican Stingless Beekeeping|url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08873638409478571|journal=Journal of Cultural Geography|language=en|volume=4|issue=2|pages=14–28|doi=10.1080/08873638409478571|issn=0887-3631|access-date=2021-03-29|archive-date=2022-01-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220119131258/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08873638409478571|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref> By 300 BCE they had achieved the highest levels of stingless beekeeping practices in the world.<ref>Crane, E. (1998). [https://www.evacranetrust.org/uploads/document/7e2217c97156c8e490fe88721dd6f755a0029cc3.pdf Amerindian honey hunting and hive beekeeping]. ''Acta Americana'', ''6''(1), 5–18</ref> The use of stingless bees is referred to as [[meliponiculture]], which is named after bees of the tribe [[Meliponini]] such as ''[[Melipona quadrifasciata]]'' in Brazil. This variation of beekeeping still occurs today.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Meliponiculture in Mexico: problems and perspective for development|journal=Bee World|date=2001-01-01|issn=0005-772X|pages=160–167|volume=82|issue=4|doi=10.1080/0005772X.2001.11099523|first1=José Javier G.|last1=Quezada-Euán|first2=William de Jesús|last2=May-Itzá|first3=Jorge A.|last3=González-Acereto|s2cid=85263563}}</ref> For instance, in [[Beekeeping in Australia|Australia]], the stingless bee ''[[Tetragonula carbonaria]]'' is kept for the production of honey.<ref name=Halcroft2013>{{cite journal|author= Halcroft, Megan T. |s2cid=86326633|year=2013|title= The Australian Stingless Bee Industry: A Follow-up Survey, One Decade on. |journal= Journal of Apicultural Research|volume= 52 |issue=2|pages= 1–7 |display-authors=etal |doi=10.3896/ibra.1.52.2.01}}</ref>