Ancient bees attest to warm Israelite-Turk cooperation in Biblical times
Saturday, 26 June 2010
Gur Salomon
While Israeli-Turkish diplomatic ties have down-spiraled to an all-time low in recent weeks following a naval raid aboard the Gaza-bound aid flotilla on May 31, researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Wednesday unveiled a study that bears witness to economic cooperation between the ancient Israelites and the people of what is now Turkey more than 3,000 years ago.
According to the study's findings, published in the June on- line edition of the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Journal, bee-keepers in the land of Israel imported Anatolian bees en masse for the production of precious wax and honey from what is today central Turkey.
The study was launched in 2007, when a group of archaeologists from the Hebrew University, headed by Professor Amihai Mazar, stumbled upon an elaborate apiary while excavating at the site of Tel Rehov, an ancient town in the Jordan Valley in northern Israel.
The apiary, dating back to the 9th century BC, the oldest of its kind yet found, is estimated to have housed up to 200 hives which contained more than 1 million bees. Its location inside the ancient town was a surprise, since bees are known for their aggressive nature, especially when the hives are opened for honey extraction.
The apiary's remains included a few dozen exceptionally- preserved clay cylinders about 80 cm long and 40 cm in diameter. Two of them contained the remains of honeybee workers, drones, pupae and larvae.
"The discovery was thrilling," Mazar told Xinhua in a telephone interview. "Ancient Egyptian murals depict bee-keeping and there isn't much literature on the subject, but we obtained evidence of a bee hive, the only one discovered thus far, dating to the ancient Near East."
When Mazar and his team completed their work, the bee remains were delivered to the lab of Professor Guy Bloch, an expert on bee behavior from the Hebrew University's Department of Evolution, Systematization and Ecology, for further examination.
Soon after experts from Germany and Brazil were brought in to assist in identifying the species of the bee remains, another discovery took the scientists by surprise.
Analysis indicated that the Tel Rehov bees differ from the Syrian bee, whose original area of habitation included the Holy Land, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Nor do the remains match the Egyptian and Persian bee subspecies. The conclusion reached was that the remains are most similar to the Anatoliaca bee which still resides in parts of today's Turkey.
Why did the ancient inhabitants of Tel Rehov bother to have bees shipped to them from hundreds of kilometers away when local Syrian bees were abundant?
"Importing bees seems to have been a useful idea since the Syrian bee is known to be a most aggressive and ill-tempered species, a fact which would have made it hard to maintain many hives with such bees inside a crowded community," said Bloch.
"The Anatolian bee is superior not only in terms of its milder temper but also yields up to eight times as much honey as Syrian bees, the kind of characteristics which make it much more ideal for industrial-scale bee-keeping," he added.
According to Bloch, Jewish settlers who arrived in Palestine in the early 1900s and turned to honey production as a source of livelihood, may have unknowingly adopted the ancient solution of importing European species "following a series of failed and possibly painful attempts to base the local honey industry on the mass farming of the angry Syrian bee."
Archaeological studies from years past suggest that bee farming may have been a lucrative business in Biblical times. According to Mazar, while honey was limited for consumption by humans, "wax was exploited for several purposes, mainly metal production, medicines, embalming and in the production of wooden plates for writing."
Besides bee cultivation, the excavations at Tel Rehov revealed evidence of what may have been extensive trade relations with other countries in the east Mediterranean. Other clay pottery found may have contained expensive oils, wines, food and textiles imported from what is today Greece and Cyprus.
As far as the bee-keepers of Tel Rehov, Mazar says the study shows that the logistic of importing the bees and then cultivating them were "far more sophisticated than what we thought until today."
He estimates that the Biblical bee-keepers of Tel Rehov operated for more than 20 years and shut down the business around the second half of the 9th century BC.
"The fact that they were able to operate inside the town, considering the disturbance this can cause to people, suggests that these may have been powerful men, maybe with an affinity to monarchy, maybe rich land owners who ruled the town," says Mazar.
Another important aspect to the study is a reexamination of the Biblical reference to Israel as "a land flowing with milk and honey." Prior to the discovery at Tel Rehov, "honey" was commonly deemed to mean the sweet product of fruits like figs. "Our discovery suggests that this aspect of the Bible may need to be reinterpreted," said Bloch.
Today's Israeli bee-keepers farm Italian bees and provide the local market with all its needs while exporting great quantities abroad.
However, cheap Turkish-made pasta and flour products did stack the shelves at Israel's leading supermarket chains until they were officially boycotted last week. The Turks, on their part, retaliated with a cancellation of weapons procurement contracts signed with Israeli suppliers.
Perhaps both sides can find some comfort in knowing that honey sweet relations characterized the relations of their people in times long ago.
— Xinhua
While Israeli-Turkish diplomatic ties have down-spiraled to an all-time low in recent weeks following a naval raid aboard the Gaza-bound aid flotilla on May 31, researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Wednesday unveiled a study that bears witness to economic cooperation between the ancient Israelites and the people of what is now Turkey more than 3,000 years ago.
According to the study's findings, published in the June on- line edition of the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Journal, bee-keepers in the land of Israel imported Anatolian bees en masse for the production of precious wax and honey from what is today central Turkey.
The study was launched in 2007, when a group of archaeologists from the Hebrew University, headed by Professor Amihai Mazar, stumbled upon an elaborate apiary while excavating at the site of Tel Rehov, an ancient town in the Jordan Valley in northern Israel.
The apiary, dating back to the 9th century BC, the oldest of its kind yet found, is estimated to have housed up to 200 hives which contained more than 1 million bees. Its location inside the ancient town was a surprise, since bees are known for their aggressive nature, especially when the hives are opened for honey extraction.
The apiary's remains included a few dozen exceptionally- preserved clay cylinders about 80 cm long and 40 cm in diameter. Two of them contained the remains of honeybee workers, drones, pupae and larvae.
"The discovery was thrilling," Mazar told Xinhua in a telephone interview. "Ancient Egyptian murals depict bee-keeping and there isn't much literature on the subject, but we obtained evidence of a bee hive, the only one discovered thus far, dating to the ancient Near East."
When Mazar and his team completed their work, the bee remains were delivered to the lab of Professor Guy Bloch, an expert on bee behavior from the Hebrew University's Department of Evolution, Systematization and Ecology, for further examination.
Soon after experts from Germany and Brazil were brought in to assist in identifying the species of the bee remains, another discovery took the scientists by surprise.
Analysis indicated that the Tel Rehov bees differ from the Syrian bee, whose original area of habitation included the Holy Land, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Nor do the remains match the Egyptian and Persian bee subspecies. The conclusion reached was that the remains are most similar to the Anatoliaca bee which still resides in parts of today's Turkey.
Why did the ancient inhabitants of Tel Rehov bother to have bees shipped to them from hundreds of kilometers away when local Syrian bees were abundant?
"Importing bees seems to have been a useful idea since the Syrian bee is known to be a most aggressive and ill-tempered species, a fact which would have made it hard to maintain many hives with such bees inside a crowded community," said Bloch.
"The Anatolian bee is superior not only in terms of its milder temper but also yields up to eight times as much honey as Syrian bees, the kind of characteristics which make it much more ideal for industrial-scale bee-keeping," he added.
According to Bloch, Jewish settlers who arrived in Palestine in the early 1900s and turned to honey production as a source of livelihood, may have unknowingly adopted the ancient solution of importing European species "following a series of failed and possibly painful attempts to base the local honey industry on the mass farming of the angry Syrian bee."
Archaeological studies from years past suggest that bee farming may have been a lucrative business in Biblical times. According to Mazar, while honey was limited for consumption by humans, "wax was exploited for several purposes, mainly metal production, medicines, embalming and in the production of wooden plates for writing."
Besides bee cultivation, the excavations at Tel Rehov revealed evidence of what may have been extensive trade relations with other countries in the east Mediterranean. Other clay pottery found may have contained expensive oils, wines, food and textiles imported from what is today Greece and Cyprus.
As far as the bee-keepers of Tel Rehov, Mazar says the study shows that the logistic of importing the bees and then cultivating them were "far more sophisticated than what we thought until today."
He estimates that the Biblical bee-keepers of Tel Rehov operated for more than 20 years and shut down the business around the second half of the 9th century BC.
"The fact that they were able to operate inside the town, considering the disturbance this can cause to people, suggests that these may have been powerful men, maybe with an affinity to monarchy, maybe rich land owners who ruled the town," says Mazar.
Another important aspect to the study is a reexamination of the Biblical reference to Israel as "a land flowing with milk and honey." Prior to the discovery at Tel Rehov, "honey" was commonly deemed to mean the sweet product of fruits like figs. "Our discovery suggests that this aspect of the Bible may need to be reinterpreted," said Bloch.
Today's Israeli bee-keepers farm Italian bees and provide the local market with all its needs while exporting great quantities abroad.
However, cheap Turkish-made pasta and flour products did stack the shelves at Israel's leading supermarket chains until they were officially boycotted last week. The Turks, on their part, retaliated with a cancellation of weapons procurement contracts signed with Israeli suppliers.
Perhaps both sides can find some comfort in knowing that honey sweet relations characterized the relations of their people in times long ago.
— Xinhua