Honey-collecting in prehistoric West Africa from 3500 years ago

Julie Dunne (), Alexa Höhn, Gabriele Franke, Katharina Neumann (), Peter Breunig, Toby Gillard, Caitlin Walton-Doyle and Richard P. Evershed ()
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Julie Dunne: University of Bristol
Alexa Höhn: Institute for Archaeological Sciences
Gabriele Franke: Institute for Archaeological Sciences
Katharina Neumann: Institute for Archaeological Sciences
Peter Breunig: Institute for Archaeological Sciences
Toby Gillard: University of Bristol
Caitlin Walton-Doyle: University of Bristol
Richard P. Evershed: University of Bristol

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Honey and other bee products were likely a sought-after foodstuff for much of human history, with direct chemical evidence for beeswax identified in prehistoric ceramic vessels from Europe, the Near East and Mediterranean North Africa, from the 7th millennium BC. Historical and ethnographic literature from across Africa suggests bee products, honey and larvae, had considerable importance both as a food source and in the making of honey-based drinks. Here, to investigate this, we carry out lipid residue analysis of 458 prehistoric pottery vessels from the Nok culture, Nigeria, West Africa, an area where early farmers and foragers co-existed. We report complex lipid distributions, comprising n-alkanes, n-alkanoic acids and fatty acyl wax esters, which provide direct chemical evidence of bee product exploitation and processing, likely including honey-collecting, in over one third of lipid-yielding Nok ceramic vessels. These findings highlight the probable importance of honey collecting in an early farming context, around 3500 years ago, in West Africa.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22425-4

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