期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：2010
卷号：107
期号：25
页码：11240-11244
DOI：10.1073/pnas.1003265107
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：Although texts and wall paintings suggest that bees were kept in the Ancient Near East for the production of precious wax and honey, archaeological evidence for beekeeping has never been found. The Biblical term "honey" commonly was interpreted as the sweet product of fruits, such as dates and figs. The recent discovery of unfired clay cylinders similar to traditional hives still used in the Near East at the site of Tel Re[IMG]/medium/pnas.1003265107i1.gif" ALT="Formula ">ov in the Jordan valley in northern Israel suggests that a large-scale apiary was located inside the town, dating to the 10th-early 9th centuries B.C.E. This paper reports the discovery of remains of honeybee workers, drones, pupae, and larvae inside these hives. The exceptional preservation of these remains provides unequivocal identification of the clay cylinders as the most ancient beehives yet found. Morphometric analyses indicate that these bees differ from the local subspecies Apis mellifera syriaca and from all subspecies other than A. m. anatoliaca, which presently resides in parts of Turkey. This finding suggests either that the Western honeybee subspecies distribution has undergone rapid change during the last 3,000 years or that the ancient inhabitants of Tel Re[IMG]/medium/pnas.1003265107i1.gif" ALT="Formula ">ov imported bees superior to the local bees in terms of their milder temper and improved honey yield.
关键词：Apis mellifera ; domestication ; biogeography ; climate change ; Iron Age IIA
