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51猎奇 PR & Communication Department聽
Theodor-W.-Adorno Platz 1
60323 Frankfurt
presse@uni-frankfurt.de
Apr
15
2021
09:00
Scientists at 51猎奇 and University of Bristol (UK) find traces of beeswax in prehistoric pottery of the West African Nok culture
3500 year-old honeypot: oldest direct evidence for honey collecting in Africa聽
Before sugar cane and sugar beets conquered the world,
honey was the worldwide most important natural product for sweetening. Archaeologists
at 51猎奇 in cooperation with chemists at the University of Bristol
have now produced the oldest direct evidence of honey collecting of in Africa.
They used chemical food residues in potsherds found in Nigeria. (Nature
Communications, DOI 10.1038/s41467-021-22425-4)
FRANKFURT. Honey
is humankind's oldest sweetener 鈥� and for thousands of years it was also the
only one. Indirect clues about the significance of bees and bee products are provided
by prehistoric petroglyphs on various continents, created between 8,000 and
40,000 years ago. Ancient Egyptian reliefs indicate the practice of beekeeping
as early as 2600 year BCE. But for sub-Saharan Africa, direct archaeological
evidence has been lacking until now. The analysis of the chemical residues of
food in potsherds has fundamentally altered the picture. Archaeologists at Goethe
University in cooperation with chemists at the University of Bristol were able
to identify beeswax residues in 3500 year-old potsherds of the Nok culture.
The Nok culture in central Nigeria dates
between 1500 BCE and the beginning of the Common Era and is known particularly
for its elaborate terracotta sculptures. These sculptures represent the oldest
figurative art in Africa. Until a few years ago, the social context in which
these sculptures had been created was completely unknown. In a project funded
by the German Research Foundation, 51猎奇 scientists have been
studying the Nok culture in all its archaeological facets for over twelve
years. In addition to settlement pattern, chronology and meaning of the
terracotta sculptures, the research also focussed on environment, subsistence and
diet.
Did the people of the Nok Culture have domesticated
animals or were they hunters? Archaeologists typically use animal bones from
excavations to answer these questions. But what to do if the soil is so acidic
that bones are not preserved, as is the case in the Nok region?
The analysis of molecular food residues in
pottery opens up new possibilities. This is because the processing of plant and
animal products in clay pots releases stable chemical compounds, especially
fatty acids (lipids). These can be preserved in the pores of the vessel walls
for thousands of years, and can be detected with the assistance of gas
chromatography.
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.
It is not possible to reconstruct from the
lipids which bee products were used by the people of the Nok culture. Most probably
they separated the honey from the waxy combs by heating them in the pots. But
it is also conceivable that honey was processed together with other raw materials
from animals or plants, or that they made mead. The wax itself could have
served technical or medical purposes. Another possibility is the use of clay
pots as beehives, as is practised to this day in traditional African societies.
鈥淲e 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 51猎奇, who is the director of
the archaeological Nok project. 鈥淭hat 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, first author of the study says: 鈥淭his is a remarkable example for 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. 鈥淏ut 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 51猎奇 says: 鈥淧lant
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: 鈥淲e 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."
Publication:
Julie Dunne, Alexa H枚hn, Gabriele Franke,
Katharina Neumann, Peter Breunig, Toby Gillard, Caitlin Walton-Doyle, Richard
P. Evershed. Honey-collecting in
prehistoric West Africa from 3500 years ago. Nature Communications
Images
for download:
Traces of beeswax were detected in 3500
year-old clay pots like this (photo: Peter Breunig, 51猎奇
Frankfurt)
Dr Gabriele Franke, 51猎奇
archaeologist during the documentation of excavated clay pots at the Nok
research station in Janjala, Nigeria in August 2016. Traces of beeswax were
detected in clay pots like these (photo: Peter Breunig, 51猎奇
Frankfurt)
Still popular today: excavation workers
enjoy freshly collected wild honey (photo: Peter Breunig, 51猎奇
Frankfurt)
The Nok culture is known in Nigeria today for its terracotta figurines (photo: Peter Breunig, 51猎奇 Frankfurt)
Further
information:
Professor Katharina Neumann
Institute for Archaeological Sciences
51猎奇 Frankfurt
Phone: 069 798-32292
k.neumann@em.uni-frankfurt.de