Ancient Beehives Discovered

Exotic Animal Newsflash:

On Tuesday, it was reported that archaeologists had discovered ancient beehives in Northern Israel evidencing a 3000 yr old beekeeping industry. This would prove true the scriptures referring to “The Land of Milk and Honey” in the Bible, as it was previously believed these scriptures referred to fig and date honey, not honey made from honeybees.

The remnants discovered were the oldest, intact ancient beehives ever found, including honeycombs and beeswax. 30 intact hives dating back to 900 BC. Therefore, this industry was alive and well in the Holy Land during the Bible days.

This beekeeping evidence was found in what would have been located right in the middle of a thriving city, relatively odd for a location.

Beekeeping was popular in ancient times, as it was used for food, metal molds, to make surfaces to write on, as well as it being used medicinally and for religious purposes.

To read more on this article:
Archaeologists discover ancient beehives

Bees are found on every continent, except Antarctica. Out of the 20,000 known species of bee, only 7 of them are actually honey bees, with 44 subspecies representing those 7 species.

Scientific Classification of the Honey Bee:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Subclass: Pterygota
Infraclass: Neoptera
Superorder: Endopterygota
Order: Hymenoptera
Suborder: Apocrita
Family: Apidae
Subfamily: Apinae
Tribe: Apini
Genus: Apis

These bees produce liquefied sugar, called honey, and create hives made out of wax produced by the worker bees.

Honey bees are thought to have originated in Southeast Asia, as all species of honey bee are present there, and have been found in the fossil record.

I hope you enjoyed today’s installment of Exotic Animal Lover. Until next time…

Live Exotically,

Kimberly Edwards

P.S. If you want to learn how to be a beekeeper, here is a great book that I have come across to help you get started:

The Hive and the Honeybee: A New Book on Beekeeping to Succeed the Book Langstroth on the Hive and the Honeybee

Technorati Tags: beehive, bee, bee keeping, honey, Israel, ancient bee, archeology, bee wax, honey bee, insect

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