12 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Oldest Direct Evidence for Honey Collecting in Africa

Honey is an important food source that has been considered a very important healing source in the history of civilizations. This precious food item was painted on the cave walls of the Ancient Age settlement in Spain, sixteen thousand years ago, in prehistoric times. The fact that the bee fossils found in an amber stone by scientists have a history of one hundred million years proves that bees, miraculous creatures, date back before human history. It has been determined that honey has been used as a source of healing, nutritional beauty, power, and wealth in many rooted civilizations such as Ancient Egypt, Sumer, Babylon, Hittite, Rome, Greek and India in the resources, laws, holy books, hieroglyphs, tablets, and symbols of the country.

The importance of honey for health, the way it is used as medicine and ointment, and its sacredness have been repeatedly stated in the papyri written by physicians dating back to ancient times. In the prescriptions of Babylonian pharmacies, diseases treated with honey are mentioned. Ibn Sina for honey “Food of food, drink of beverages and medicine of medicines.” used the term.

In Hippocrates’ health prescriptions; Honey and honey products in Aristotle’s books are an indispensable element of beauty and health.

Although it is known that beekeeping was carried out in Egypt in 2600 BC But for sub-Saharan Africa, direct archaeological evidence has been lacking until now.

Archaeologists at Goethe University, in collaboration with chemists at the University of Bristol, were able to identify the wax remains in 3500-year-old pottery pieces of the Nok culture.

The history of Nok culture in Central Nigeria can be traced back to 1500 BC to the beginning of the Common Era and is famous for its elaborate terracotta sculptures. These sculptures represent the oldest figurative art in Africa. Until a few years ago, the social background for creating these sculptures was completely unknown. In a project funded by the German Research Foundation, scientists at Goethe University have studied Nok culture in all aspects of its archaeology for twelve years. In addition to the way, age, and significance of the terracotta warriors and horses, the research also focused on the environment, survival, and diet.

Nok culture terracotta
NOK Culture terracotta sculptures. Source

To the researchers’ great surprise, they found numerous other components besides the remains of wild animals, significantly expanding the previously known spectrum of animals and plants used. There is one creature in particular that they had not expected: the honeybee. A third of the examined shards contained high-molecular lipids, typical for beeswax.

The bee products used by Nok culture cannot be reconstructed from lipids. They probably separated the honey from the wax comb by heating it in a pot. But it is also conceivable that honey was processed together with other raw materials of animals and plants, or is made mead. The wax itself can be used for technical or medical purposes. Another possibility is to use clay pots as beehives, as the traditional African society has adopted so far.

nok culture
Analysis of the molecular food residues of Nok Culture pottery was performed and honey findings were obtained.

“We began this study with our colleagues in Bristol because we wanted to know if the Nok people had domesticated animals,” explains Professor Peter Breunig from Goethe University, who is the director of the archaeological Nok project. “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, the first author of the study says: “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 study points out that the special relationship between humans and honeybees was already known 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 is in charge of archaeobotany in the Nok project at Goethe University says: “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 first direct evidence of beeswax opens up fascinating perspectives 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.”

GOETHE UNIVERSITY FRANKFURT

Related Articles

Archaeologists Uncovered a Tile Workshop From the First Century in Corsica

3 December 2024

3 December 2024

Archaeologists from the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) excavations on the east coast of Corsica have uncovered...

Marvelous Marble Floor Of Sunken Roman Villa Restored in Bacoli

19 July 2024

19 July 2024

In Bacoli, Italy, an underwater restoration project has uncovered the marvelous marble floor of a submerged Roman villa. This remarkable...

The ruins of a thousand-year-old Buddhist Temple will be opened to the public in Kyrgyzstan

13 September 2022

13 September 2022

The unearthed remains of an ancient Buddhist temple in Kyrgyzstan will open to the public in mid-September as part of...

Two Altars Used for Blood Sacrifices and Divinations Discovered in the Ancient Thracian City of Perperikon

14 September 2024

14 September 2024

In the ancient Thracian city of Perperikon, partly carved into the rock in the Eastern Rhodope Mountains of Bulgaria, two...

Mysterious ruins discovered at the bottom of Lake Van, Türkiye’s largest lake

16 August 2023

16 August 2023

At the bottom of Lake Van, Türkiye’s largest salty soda lake with 3,712 square kilometers, divers discovered a cemetery and...

Unique 2,000-year-old Decorated Roman Sandal Discovered in Spain

20 October 2023

20 October 2023 1

A 2,000-year-old Roman sandal was discovered during archaeological excavations at Lucus Asturum (modern-day Lugo de Llanera) in Asturias, northern Spain....

Stone Penis Found in Medieval Spanish ruins Had Violent Purpose

11 June 2023

11 June 2023

Archaeologists found a six-inch stone penis while excavating the Tower of Meira (Torre de Meira) in the city of Ría...

9 Relics of Neanderthal Found in The Guattari Cave

8 May 2021

8 May 2021

Archaeologists in Italy have discovered the remains of nine Neanderthals who were reportedly killed and mauled by hyenas in their...

Excavations Near Stonehenge Uncover Bronze Age Barrow Cemetery

4 June 2023

4 June 2023

The Cotswold Archeology team excavating at the site of a planned housing development near Salisbury, England, has unearthed a giant...

5700-year-old monumental Menga Dolmen reveals it as one of the greatest feats of Neolithic engineering

6 December 2023

6 December 2023

A new investigation tracing the source of the gigantic stones that make up the Menga dolmen in southern Spain reveals...

Peru finds perfectly preserved a wooden figure in the Americas’ largest mud-brick city

29 June 2022

29 June 2022

A perfectly preserved wooden figure has been discovered at the Chan Chan archaeological site, in northern Peru, the Ministry of...

Iron Age stone altar and gold-plated ceremonial sword discovered in Kazakhstan

14 August 2021

14 August 2021

A stone altar and a gold-plated ceremonial sword used in the early Iron Age were discovered during excavations along the...

Archaeological excavations started again after 50 years in Tunceli Tozkoparan mound

28 June 2021

28 June 2021

Archaeological excavations at the Tozkoparan Mound in Turkey’s Tunceli province are anticipated to turn the city into one of eastern...

An inscription containing the Turk name was discovered for the first time in Anatolia

3 September 2022

3 September 2022

For the first time in the pre-Islamic Early period Turkish history, an inscription bearing the inscription expression “Turk” and written...

1700-year-old weaving workshop discovered in southeast Turkey

4 December 2021

4 December 2021

Excavations carried out in the ancient city of Perre in the southeastern province of Adıyaman have unearthed a 1,700-year-old weaving...