Bee products in the prehistoric southern levant: evidence from the lipid organic record

Beehive products have a rich global history. In the wider Levantine region, bees had a significant role in Egypt and Mesopotamia, and intensive beekeeping was noted in Israel during the Biblical period when apiaries were first identified. This study investigates the origins of this extensive beekeeping through organic residue analysis of pottery from prehistoric sites in the southern Levant. The results suggest that beehive products from likely wild bees were used during the Chalcolithic period as a vessel surface treatment and/or as part of the diet. These functions are reinforced by comparison to the wider archaeological record. While the true frequency of beeswax use may be debated, alternatives to beehive products were seemingly preferred as wild resources contrasted with the socio-economic system centred on domesticated resources, controlled production and standardization. Bee products only became an important part of the economic canon in the southern Levant several millennia later.

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The Uses of Cypriote White-Slip Ware inferred from Organic Residue Analysis

Ägypten und Levante ◽

10.1553/aeundl14s13 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 1 (XIV) ◽

pp. 13-44

Author(s):

Curt W. Beck ◽

Edith C. Stout ◽

Karen M. Wovkulich ◽

Vassos Karageorghis ◽

Eleni Aloupi

Keyword(s):

Residue Analysis ◽

Organic Residue ◽

Organic Residue Analysis

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Illuminating the prehistory of Northern Europe: organic residue analysis of lamps

SUBSISTENCE STRATEGIES IN THE STONE AGE, DIRECT AND INDIRECT EVIDENCE OF FISHING AND GATHERING ◽

10.31600/978-5-907053-00-7-2018-214-217 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Harry Robson ◽

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Ester Oras ◽

Sönke Hartz ◽

Jacek Kabaciński ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Residue Analysis ◽

Northern Europe ◽

Organic Residue ◽

Organic Residue Analysis

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Finding Oxford’s medieval Jewry using organic residue analysis, faunal records and historical documents

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences ◽

10.1007/s12520-021-01282-8 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (3) ◽

Author(s):

J. Dunne ◽

E. Biddulph ◽

P. Manix ◽

T. Gillard ◽

H. Whelton ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Lipid Analysis ◽

Residue Analysis ◽

Fish Bone ◽

Jewish Tradition ◽

Organic Residue ◽

Dietary Practices ◽

Animal Bones ◽

Dietary Laws ◽

The City ◽

Organic Residue Analysis

AbstractFood is often one of the most distinctive expressions of social, religious, cultural or ethnic groups. However, the archaeological identification of specific religious dietary practices, including the Jewish tradition of keeping kosher, associated with ritual food practices and taboos, is very rare. This is arguably one of the oldest known diets across the world and, for an observant Jew, maintaining dietary laws (known as Kashruth) is a fundamental part of everyday life. Recent excavations in the early medieval Oxford Jewish quarter yielded a remarkable assemblage of animal bones, marked by a complete absence of pig specimens and a dominance of kosher (permitted) birds, domestic fowl and goose. To our knowledge, this is the first identification of a Jewish dietary signature in British zooarchaeology, which contrasted markedly with the previous Saxon phase where pig bones were present in quantity and bird bones were barely seen. Lipid residue analysis of pottery from St Aldates showed that vessels from the possible Jewish houses were solely used to process ruminant carcass products, with an avoidance of pig product processing, correlating well with the faunal data. In contrast, lipid analysis of pottery from comparative assemblages from the previous Saxon phase at the site and a contemporaneous site in the city, The Queen’s College, shows that the majority of these vessels appear to have been used to process mixtures of both ruminant and non-ruminant (pig) products. Here, the combination of organic residue analysis, site excavation and animal and fish bone evidence was consistent with the presence of Jewish houses in eleventh- and twelfth-century St Aldates, Oxford, hitherto only suspected through documentary information. This is the first identification of specific religious dietary practices using lipid residue analysis, verifying that, at least 800 years ago, medieval Jewish Oxford communities practised dietary laws known as Kashruth.

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