@article {308391,
	title = {Widespread exploitation of the honeybee by early Neolithic farmers.},
	journal = {Nature},
	volume = {527},
	year = {2015},
	note = {http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v527/n7577/full/nature15757.html},
	month = {2015 Nov 12},
	pages = {226-30},
	abstract = {<p>The pressures on honeybee (Apis mellifera) populations, resulting from threats by modern pesticides, parasites, predators and diseases, have raised awareness of the economic importance and critical role this insect plays in agricultural societies across the globe. However, the association of humans with A. mellifera predates post-industrial-revolution agriculture, as evidenced by the widespread presence of ancient Egyptian bee iconography dating to the Old Kingdom (approximately 2400 BC). There are also indications of Stone Age people harvesting bee products; for example, honey hunting is interpreted from rock art in a prehistoric Holocene context and a beeswax find in a pre-agriculturalist site. However, when and where the regular association of A. mellifera with agriculturalists emerged is unknown. One of the major products of A. mellifera is beeswax, which is composed of a complex suite of lipids including n-alkanes, n-alkanoic acids and fatty acyl wax esters. The composition is highly constant as it is determined genetically through the insect{\textquoteright}s biochemistry. Thus, the chemical {\textquoteright}fingerprint{\textquoteright} of beeswax provides a reliable basis for detecting this commodity in organic residues preserved at archaeological sites, which we now use to trace the exploitation by humans of A. mellifera temporally and spatially. Here we present secure identifications of beeswax in lipid residues preserved in pottery vessels of Neolithic Old World farmers. The geographical range of bee product exploitation is traced in Neolithic Europe, the Near East and North Africa, providing the palaeoecological range of honeybees during prehistory. Temporally, we demonstrate that bee products were exploited continuously, and probably extensively in some regions, at least from the seventh millennium cal BC, likely fulfilling a variety of technological and cultural functions. The close association of A. mellifera with Neolithic farming communities dates to the early onset of agriculture and may provide evidence for the beginnings of a domestication process.</p>},
	keywords = {Africa, Northern, Animals, Archaeology, Beekeeping, Bees, Ceramics, Europe, Farmers, Geographic Mapping, History, Ancient, Lipids, Middle East, Spatio-Temporal Analysis, Waxes},
	issn = {1476-4687},
	doi = {10.1038/nature15757},
	url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26560301},
	author = {Roffet-Salque, M{\'e}lanie and Regert, Martine and Evershed, Richard P and Outram, Alan K and Cramp, Lucy J E and Decavallas, Orestes and Dunne, Julie and Gerbault, Pascale and Mileto, Simona and Mirabaud, Sigrid and P{\"a}{\"a}kk{\"o}nen, Mirva and Smyth, Jessica and {\v S}oberl, Lucija and Whelton, Helen L and Alday-Ruiz, Alfonso and Asplund, Henrik and Bartkowiak, Marta and Bayer-Niemeier, Eva and Belhouchet, Lotfi and Bernardini, Federico and Budja, Mihael and Cooney, Gabriel and Cubas, Miriam and Danaher, Ed M and Diniz, Mariana and Dombor{\'o}czki, L{\'a}szl{\'o} and Fabbri, Cristina and Gonz{\'a}lez-Urquijo, Jesus E and Guilaine, Jean and Hachi, Slimane and Hartwell, Barrie N and Hofmann, Daniela and Hohle, Isabel and Ib{\'a}{\~n}ez, Juan J and Karul, Necmi and Kherbouche, Farid and Kiely, Jacinta and Kotsakis, Kostas and Lueth, Friedrich and Mallory, James P and Manen, Claire and Marciniak, Arkadiusz and Maurice-Chabard, Brigitte and Mc Gonigle, Martin A and Mulazzani, Simone and {\"O}zdo{\u g}an, Mehmet and Peri{\'c}, Olga S and Peri{\'c}, Slavi{\v s}a R and Petrasch, J{\"o}rg and P{\'e}trequin, Anne-Marie and P{\'e}trequin, Pierre and Poensgen, Ulrike and Pollard, C Joshua and Poplin, Fran{\c c}ois and Radi, Giovanna and Stadler, Peter and St{\"a}uble, Harald and Tasi{\'c}, Nenad and Urem-Kotsou, Dushka and Vukovi{\'c}, Jasna B and Walsh, Fintan and Whittle, Alasdair and Wolfram, Sabine and Zapata-Pe{\~n}a, Lydia and Zoughlami, Jamel}
}
