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An archeologist examining the remnants of 3,000-year-old beehives found at Rehov. (AP)
Last update - 00:00 04/09/2007
Archeologists find 3,000-year-old beehives in ancient city's ruins in N. Israel
By The Associated Press
Tags: Israel, Rehov, archeology 

Archeologists digging in northern Israel have discovered evidence of a 3,000-year-old beekeeping industry, including remnants of ancient honeycombs, beeswax and what they believe are the oldest intact beehives ever found.

The findings in the ruins of the city of Rehov include 30 intact hives dating to around 900 B.C.E., archaeologist Amihai Mazar of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem told The Associated Press. He sad it offers unique evidence that an advanced honey industry existed in the Holy Land at the time of the Bible.

Beekeeping was widely practiced in the ancient world, where honey used for medicinal and religious purposes as well as for food, and beeswax was used to make molds for metal and to create surfaces to write on. While portrayals of bees and beekeeping are known in ancient artwork, nothing similar to the Rehov hives has ever been found before, Mazar said.
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The beehives, made of straw and unbaked clay, have a hole at one end to allow the bees in and out and a lid on the other end to allow beekeepers access to the honeycombs inside. They were found in orderly rows, three high, in a room that could have accommodated around 100 hives, Mazar said.

The Bible repeatedly refers to Israel as a land of milk and honey, but that's believed to refer to honey made from dates and figs - there is no mention of honeybee cultivation. But the new find shows that the Holy Land was home to a highly developed beekeeping industry nearly 3,000 years ago.

"You can tell that this was an organized industry, part of an organized economy, in an ultra-organized city," Mazar said.

At the time the beehives were in use, Mazar believes Rehov had around 2,000 residents, a mix of Israelites, Canaanites and others.

Ezra Marcus, an expert on the ancient Mediterranean world at Haifa University, said the finding was a unique glimpse into ancient beekeeping. Marcus was not involved in the Rehov excavation.

"We have seen depictions of beekeeping in texts and ancient art from the Near East, but this is the first time we've been able to actually feel and see the industry," Marcus said.

The finding is especially unique, Marcus said, because of its location in the middle of a thriving city - a strange place for thousands of bees.

"This might have been because the city's ruler wanted the industry under his control," Marcus said, or because the beekeeping industry was linked to residents' religious practices, as might be indicated by an altar decorated with fertility figurines that archaeologists found alongside the hives
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  1.   israeli in canaanite lands 19:06  |  Kris 04/09/07
  2.   Mossad did it! 19:10  |  dyinglikeflies 04/09/07
  3.   Now isn`t that sweet! 19:58  |  Murray of Montreal 04/09/07
  4.   Demise of the bees 20:22  |  Greg 04/09/07
  5.   No mention of the exact location on the article 20:43  |  Alain 04/09/07
  6.   great, go build a memorial and a synagogue 21:02  |  Me 04/09/07
  7.   ancient city WHERE ART THOU?? 21:29  |  jack 04/09/07
  8.   #1 Kris 21:54  |  Marco 04/09/07
  9.   #6 21:57  |  Marco 04/09/07
  10.   Tel Rehov, Bet Shean Valley in Israel 22:25  |  Jesus 04/09/07
  11.   #7 Jack: Where, indeed? Please tell us 22:37  |  hala 04/09/07
  12.   #7 Jack, I found many interesting articles, etc. 22:45  |  hala 04/09/07
  13.   And thy Lord taught the Bee to build its cells in hills, on trees 22:49  |  Absolute Sweden 04/09/07
  14.   #8 Marco to Kris 22:55  |  hala 04/09/07
  15.   hala,there`s hardly any territory at all arabs have an exclusivit 23:25  |  Absolute Sweden 04/09/07
  16.   #15 Extreme reaction to AbsoluteSweden 00:31  |  hala 05/09/07
  17.   hala,your devious reasoning is like the bee honey mixed with cyan 00:48  |  Absolute Sweden 05/09/07
  18.   hala, since honey is frequently mentioned in the Bible 01:00  |  Jake 05/09/07
  19.   hala, Israel will be happy to return Jerusalem...to the Jebusites 01:18  |  Jake 05/09/07
  20.   I am waiting to hear that the bee-hives were Arab 01:30  |  Jake 05/09/07
  21.   Find the bees 02:06  |  KT 05/09/07
  22.   Israel is a miraculous country! 04:00  |  Gina 05/09/07
  23.   Location of ancient beehives 14:29  |  Harold Davidson 05/09/07
  24.   #17 devious? 14:38  |  hala 05/09/07
  25.   Jake, your facts are fallacious 14:47  |  hala 05/09/07
  26.   Jake, Urusalim is the name used in the Amarna letters 15:02  |  hala 05/09/07
  27.   #31 consulting other sites on the net 15:07  |  hala 05/09/07
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