The world history of beekeeping and honey hunting

Abstract

This work explores in detail the world history of man's use of bees, from prehistoric honey hunting to the sophisticated industry it has become today. Honey has always been the chief prize, but bee brood was eaten as meat, and beeswax was important in many technologies. Bees, honey and wax have special symbolic significance in both early beliefs and later world religions. And bees' greatest benefit to man has been their pollination of his crops. Honey hunting is shown here in the rock art of four continents. Pictures of beekeeping survive from ancient Egypt, and hives or parts of them from Greece, Crete, pre-Roman Spain and the Maya region of Mesoamerica. Many traditional practices have been handled down through the generations, and there are abundant written records, the earliest from the second millennium BC. This book contains many first-hand descriptions, set out to cover aspects of the subject.