Archaeologists Discover Oldest Direct Evidence for Honey Collecting in Africa in Ancient Clay Pots

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3500 Year-Old Clay Pots

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Traces of beeswax were identified in 3500 year-old clay pots like this. Credit: Peter Breunig, Goethe University Frankfurt

Scientists at Goethe University and University of Bristol (UK) discover traces of beeswax in ancient pottery of the West African Nok culture.

Before sugar walking cane and sugar beets dominated the world, honey was the around the world essential natural item for sweetening. Archaeologists at Goethe University in cooperation with chemists at the University of Bristol have actually now produced the earliest direct proof of honey gathering of in Africa. They utilized chemical food residues in potsherds discovered in Nigeria.

Honey is mankind’s earliest sweetener – and for countless years it was likewise the only one. Indirect ideas about the significance of bees and bee items are offered by ancient petroglyphs on numerous continents, developed in between 8,000 and 40,000 years back. Ancient Egyptian reliefs suggest the practice of beekeeping as early as 2600 year BCE. But for sub-Saharan Africa, direct historical proof has actually been doing not have previously. The analysis of the chemical residues of food in potsherds has actually basically modified the image. Archaeologists at Goethe University in cooperation with chemists at the University of Bristol had the ability to determine beeswax residues in 3500 year-old potsherds of the Nok culture.

The Nok culture in main Nigeria dates in between 1500 BCE and the start of the Common Era and is understood especially for its intricate terracotta sculptures. These sculptures represent the earliest metaphorical art in Africa. Until a couple of years back, the social context in which these sculptures had actually been developed was totally unidentified. In a job moneyed by the German Research Foundation, Goethe University researchers have actually been studying the Nok culture in all its historical elements for over twelve years. In addition to settlement pattern, chronology, and significance of the terracotta sculptures, the research study likewise concentrated on environment, subsistence and diet plan.

Did individuals of the Nok Culture have domesticated animals or were they hunters? Archaeologists usually utilize animal bones from excavations to address these concerns. But what to do if the soil is so acidic that bones are not maintained, as holds true in the Nok area?

The analysis of molecular food residues in pottery opens brand-new possibilities. This is due to the fact that the processing of plant and animal items in clay pots launches steady chemical substances, particularly fats (lipids). These can be maintained in the pores of the vessel walls for countless years, and can be identified with the help of gas chromatography.

To the scientists’ terrific surprise, they discovered many other parts besides the remains of wild animals, considerably broadening the formerly understood spectrum of animals and plants utilized. There is one animal in specific that they had actually not anticipated: the honeybee. A 3rd of the analyzed fragments consisted of high-molecular lipids, common for beeswax.

It is not possible to rebuild from the lipids which bee items were utilized by the individuals of the Nok culture. Most most likely they separated the honey from the waxy combs by warming them in the pots. But it is likewise possible that honey was processed together with other basic materials from animals or plants, or that they made mead. The wax itself might have served technical or medical functions. Another possibility is making use of clay pots as beehives, as is practiced to this day in conventional African societies.

“We began this study with our colleagues in Bristol because we wanted to know if the Nok people had domesticated animals,” describes Professor Peter Breunig from Goethe University, who is the director of the historical Nok task. “That honey was part of their daily menu was completely unexpected, and unique in the early history of Africa until now.”

Dr. Julie Dunne from the University of Bristol, very first author of the research study states: “This is a remarkable example of how biomolecular information from prehistoric pottery in combination with ethnographic data provides insight into the use of honey 3500 years ago.”

Professor Richard Evershed, Head of the Institute for Organic Chemistry at the University of Bristol and co-author of the research study explains that the unique relationship in between people and honeybees was currently understood in antiquity. “But the discovery of beeswax residues in Nok pottery allows a very unique insight into this relationship, when all other sources of evidence are lacking.”

Professor Katharina Neumann, who supervises of archaeobotany in the Nok task at Goethe University states: “Plant and animal residues from archaeological excavations reflect only a small section of what prehistoric people ate. The chemical residues make previously invisible components of the prehistoric diet visible.” The very first direct proof of beeswax opens interesting viewpoints for the archaeology of Africa. Neumann: “We assume that the use of honey in Africa has a very long tradition. The oldest pottery on the continent is about 11,000 years old. Does it perhaps also contain beeswax residues? Archives around the world store thousands of ceramic shards from archaeological excavations that are just waiting to reveal their secrets through gas chromatography and paint a picture of the daily life and diet of prehistoric people.”

For more on this research study, read Ancient Pottery Reveals First Evidence of Prehistoric Honey Hunting in West Africa 3,500 Years Ago.

Reference: “Honey-collecting in prehistoric West Africa from 3,500 years ago” by Julie Dunne, Alexa Höhn, Gabriele Franke, Katharina Neumann, Peter Breunig, Toby Gillard, Caitlin Walton-Doyle and Richard P. Evershed, 14 April 2021, Nature Communications.
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22425-4