title: Widespread exploitation of the honeybee by early Neolithic farmers.
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). There are also indications of Stone Age people harvesting bee products; for example, honey hunting is interpreted from rock art in a prehistoric Holocene context and a beeswax find in a pre-agriculturalist site. However, when and where the regular association of A. mellifera with agriculturalists emerged is unknown. 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.
authors.affiliation: Organic Geochemistry Unit, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK.
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authors.affiliation: CEPAM - Cultures et Environnements. Préhistoire, Antiquité, Moyen Âge, UMR 7264, Université Nice Sophia Antipolis - CNRS, 06300 Nice, France.
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authors.affiliation: Organic Geochemistry Unit, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK.
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authors.affiliation: Department of Archaeology, University of Exeter, Laver Building, North Park Road, Exeter, Devon EX4 4QE, UK.
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authors.affiliation: Organic Geochemistry Unit, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK.|Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Bristol, 43 Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1UU, UK.
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authors.initials: LJ
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authors.affiliation: Université Bordeaux Montaigne, 33607 Pessac, France.|Laboratoire du Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France (C2RMF), UMR 171, Palais du Louvre, Porte des Lions, 14 Quai François Mitterrand, 75001 Paris, France.
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authors.affiliation: Organic Geochemistry Unit, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK.
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authors.affiliation: Organic Geochemistry Unit, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK.|Institut für Prähistorische Archäologie, Freie Universität Berlin, Altensteinstr. 15, Berlin 14195, Germany.
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authors.affiliation: Laboratoire du Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France (C2RMF), UMR 171, Palais du Louvre, Porte des Lions, 14 Quai François Mitterrand, 75001 Paris, France.
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authors.affiliation: Organic Geochemistry Unit, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK.|Department of Archaeology, University of Turku, 20014 Turun Yliopisto, Finland.
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authors.affiliation: Organic Geochemistry Unit, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK.|Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Bristol, 43 Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1UU, UK.
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authors.affiliation: Organic Geochemistry Unit, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK.|University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, Department of Archaeology, Aškerčeva 2, box 580, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
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mesh_terms: D000352:Africa, Northern; D000818:Animals; D001106:Archaeology; D056630:Beekeeping / Q000266:history*; D001516:Bees; D002516:Ceramics / Q000737:chemistry / Q000266:history; D005060:Europe; D000067565:Farmers / Q000266:history; D062305:Geographic Mapping; D049690:History, Ancient; D008055:Lipids / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D008877:Middle East; D062211:Spatio-Temporal Analysis; D014885:Waxes / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000266:history*
chemical_list: D008055:Lipids; D014885:Waxes; C038228:beeswax