How long ago did beekeeping start?

[efmesch]

Longer than you might think----

http://www.livescience.com/52759-stone-age-people-used-beeswax.html

[Perry]

I was gonna say shortly before Jack was born..........................

[iddee]

And I would say you are probably right.   

[brooksbeefarm]

Yes, and i still have the same hives,  I would make you two a good deal on some survivor queens. tec was my mentor. Jack 

[Perry]

 

[Barbarian]

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.

[neillsayers]

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.