Worldwide Beekeeping

Beekeeping => Bee News => Topic started by: efmesch on November 12, 2015, 02:59:28 pm

Title: How long ago did beekeeping start?
Post by: efmesch on November 12, 2015, 02:59:28 pm
Longer than you might think----

http://www.livescience.com/52759-stone-age-people-used-beeswax.html
Title: Re: How long ago did beekeeping start?
Post by: Perry on November 12, 2015, 06:25:11 pm
I was gonna say shortly before Jack was born.......................... ;D :D
Title: Re: How long ago did beekeeping start?
Post by: iddee on November 12, 2015, 07:00:24 pm
And I would say you are probably right.   :yes: :yes:
Title: Re: How long ago did beekeeping start?
Post by: brooksbeefarm on November 12, 2015, 07:15:54 pm
Yes, and i still have the same hives,  O:-) I would make you two a good deal on some survivor queens. ;D tec was my mentor. Jack  :laugh: :laugh:
Title: Re: How long ago did beekeeping start?
Post by: Perry on November 12, 2015, 07:48:48 pm
 ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: How long ago did beekeeping start?
Post by: Barbarian on November 17, 2015, 12:30:55 am
Thanks ef for the link.

It appears that the next step back from the link is an item in the popular science magazine Nature.

I am very sceptical of the deductions/conclusions. I can accept that the researchers have found traces of beeswax on prehistoric pottery. I am unsure as to whether the pottery was deliberately lined with wax. I can envisage honeycomb or brood comb going into a food preparation or being stored in a pot. There is also the idea of "hooch".

The next step infers "beekeeping". Perhaps this is a step too far. I would imagine that gathering "wild" comb took place for quite a while before keeping bees in some kind of hive.
Title: Re: How long ago did beekeeping start?
Post by: neillsayers on November 17, 2015, 02:12:30 pm
I'm guessing actual keeping of bees goes back as far as civilization. In other words as far as known agriculture, probably 10,000 years or better.