Editing Honey (section)

== History ==
[[File:Cueva arana.svg|thumb|upright=0.68|Honey seeker depicted in an 8000-year-old cave painting at [[Cuevas de la Araña en Bicorp|Coves de L'Aranya, Bicorp]] in València]]

Honey collection is an ancient activity,<ref name=Crane83 /> long preceding the honey bee's domestication; this traditional practice is known as [[honey hunting]]. A [[Mesolithic]] rock painting in a cave in [[Valencian Community|Valencia]], Spain, dating back at least 8,000 years, depicts two honey foragers collecting honey and honeycomb from a wild bees' nest. The figures are depicted carrying baskets or gourds, and using a [[ladder]] or series of ropes to reach the nest.<ref name=Crane83>Crane, Eva (1983) ''The Archaeology of Beekeeping'', Cornell University Press, {{ISBN|0-8014-1609-4}}</ref> Humans followed the [[greater honeyguide]] bird to wild beehives;<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Isack HA, Reyer HU |title=Honeyguides and honey gatherers: interspecific communication in a symbiotic relationship |journal=Science |volume=243 |issue=4896 |pages=1343–6 |year=1989 |pmid=17808267 |doi=10.1126/science.243.4896.1343 |bibcode=1989Sci...243.1343I |s2cid=4220280 |url=http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d05b/5dc81c11741b9430c3ed49aed270e6bf83fe.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190307030337/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d05b/5dc81c11741b9430c3ed49aed270e6bf83fe.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=7 March 2019}}</ref> this behavior may have evolved with early hominids.<ref>Short, Lester, Horne, Jennifer and Diamond, A. W. (2003). "Honeyguides". In Christopher Perrins (Ed.). Firefly Encyclopedia of Birds. Firefly Books. pp. 396–397. {{ISBN|1-55297-777-3}}.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1080/00306525.1981.9633599 |title=A Review of African Birds Feeding in Association with Mammals |year=1981 |last1=Dean |first1=W. R. J. |last2=MacDonald |first2=I. A. W. |journal=Ostrich |volume=52 |issue=3 |pages=135–155 |bibcode=1981Ostri..52..135D}}</ref> The oldest known honey remains were found in [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] during the construction of the [[Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline]]: archaeologists found honey remains on the inner surface of clay vessels unearthed in an ancient tomb, dating back between 4,700 and 5,500 years.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1007/s00334-006-0067-5 |title=The first find in southern Georgia of fossil honey from the Bronze Age, based on palynological data |year=2006 |last1=Kvavadze |first1=Eliso |last2=Gambashidze |first2=Irina |last3=Mindiashvili |first3=Giorgi |last4=Gogochuri |first4=Giorgi |journal=Vegetation History and Archaeobotany |volume=16 |issue=5 |pages=399–404 |s2cid=128835308}}</ref><ref>[http://www.cncworld.tv/news/v_show/23243_Georgian_ancient_honey.shtml Georgian ancient honey] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120704110909/http://www.cncworld.tv/news/v_show/23243_Georgian_ancient_honey.shtml |date=4 July 2012 }}. cncworld.tv (31 March 2012). Retrieved on 10 July 2012.</ref><ref>[http://www.eurasianet.org/node/65204 Report: Georgia Unearths the World's Oldest Honey] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180717020849/https://eurasianet.org/node/65204 |date=17 July 2018 }}. [[EurasiaNet]] (30 March 2012). Retrieved on 3 July 2015.</ref> In ancient Georgia, several types of honey were buried with a person for journeys into the afterlife, including linden, berry, and meadow-flower varieties.<ref>[http://guildofscientifictroubadours.com/2012/04/02/the-worlds-first-winemakers-were-the-worlds-first-beekeepers/ The world's first winemakers were the world's first beekeepers.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221113015430/http://guildofscientifictroubadours.com/2012/04/02/the-worlds-first-winemakers-were-the-worlds-first-beekeepers/ |date=13 November 2022 }} guildofscientifictroubadours.com (2 April 2012). Retrieved on 10 July 2012.</ref>

The first written records of beekeeping are from [[ancient Egypt]]{{when|date=April 2023}}, where honey was used to sweeten cakes, biscuits, and other foods and as a base for [[unguents]] in Egyptian [[hieroglyphs]]. The dead were often buried in or with honey in Egypt, [[Ancient Mesopotamia|Mesopotamia]] and other regions. Bees were kept at temples to produce honey for temple offerings, mummification and other uses.<ref name=med>{{cite book |author=Rachel Hajar |author1-link=Honey and Medicine |editor1-last=Selin |editor1-first=Helaine |title=Encyclopedia of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures |date=2008 |publisher=Springer |page=89}}</ref>

In [[ancient Greece]], honey was produced from the [[Archaic Greece|Archaic]] to the [[Hellenistic period]]s. In 594&nbsp;BCE,<ref>{{cite book |author=Pliny |title=XI.9.19}}</ref> beekeeping around [[Athens]] was so widespread that [[Solon]] passed a law about it: "He who sets up hives of bees must put them {{convert|300|ft|m|abbr=off|disp=sqbr|sigfig=1}} away from those already installed by another".<ref>{{cite book |author=Plutarch |title=Life of Solon |page=23}}</ref><ref name="crane book" /> Greek archaeological excavations of pottery located ancient hives.<ref name="Princeton University Press">{{cite book |author1-link=Alain Bresson |last1=Bresson |first1=Alain |title=The Making of the Ancient Greek Economy: Institutions, Markets and Growth |publisher=Princeton University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wU9FCQAAQBAJ&q=honey+ancient+greek&pg=PA130 |access-date=16 December 2015 |isbn=978-1-4008-5245-1 |date=3 November 2015 |archive-date=13 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240713180655/https://books.google.com/books?id=wU9FCQAAQBAJ&q=honey+ancient+greek&pg=PA130#v=snippet&q=honey%20ancient%20greek&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> According to [[Columella]], Greek beekeepers of the Hellenistic period did not hesitate to move their hives over rather long distances to maximize production, taking advantage of the different vegetative cycles in different regions.<ref name="Princeton University Press" /> The spiritual and supposed therapeutic use of honey in [[ancient India]] was documented in both the [[Vedas]] and the [[Ayurveda]] texts.<ref name="Pećanac-">{{cite journal |vauthors=Pećanac M, Janjić Z, Komarcević A, Pajić M, Dobanovacki D, Misković SS |title=Burns treatment in ancient times |journal=Med Pregl |volume=66 |issue=5–6 |pages=263–7 |year=2013 |pmid=23888738 |doi=10.1016/s0264-410x(02)00603-5}}</ref>