History
Gathering honey is an ancient activity. It long predates the honey bee's domestication. People know this traditional practice as honey hunting. A Mesolithic
The painting is in a cave in Valencia, Spain. It dates back at least 8,000 years. It shows two honey foragers collecting honey and honeycomb from a wild bees' nest.
The figures carry baskets or gourds. They use a ladder or ropes to reach the nest. Humans followed the greater honeyguide bird to Wild beehives. This behavior may
have evolved with early hominids. During construction, researchers found the oldest honey remains in Georgia.The Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline. Archaeologists found
honey remains inside clay vessels. They unearthed the vessels in an ancient tomb. They date back 4,700 years. Ancient Georgians buried these types of honey with a
person. They were for journeys into the afterlife. These types included linden and berry honey and meadow-flower varieties.
The first written records of beekeeping are from ancient Egypt[when?]. People used honey to sweeten cakes, biscuits, and other foods. It was also a base for unguents.
in Egyptian hieroglyphs. The dead were often buried in or with honey in Egypt, Mesopotamia and other regions. Temples kept bees to produce honey for...temple offerings,
mummification and other uses.
Ancient Greeks produced honey from the Archaic to the Hellenistic periods. In 594 BCE, beekeeping around Athens was so widespread that Solon passed There is a law
about it. It says: "He who sets up bee hives must put them 300 feet [90 metres] from those set up by another". Archaeologists found pottery in ancient hives during
excavation. Columella said Greek beekeepers of the Hellenistic period moved their hives and did not hesitate to do so. They travel long distances to maximize
production. They use the different vegetative cycles in different regions. Both the Vedas and the Ayurveda texts documented the use of honey in ancient India.
Honey hunting
Honey hunting or honey harvesting is the gathering of honey from wild bee colonies. It is one of the most ancient human activities and is still practiced
by aboriginal societies in parts of Africa, Asia, Australia and South America. Some of the earliest evidence of gathering honey from wild colonies is from rock
painting, dating to around 8,000 BC. In the Middle Ages in Europe, people gathered honey from wild or semi-wild bee colonies. They did it on a commercial scale.
People usually gather honey from wild bee colonies by subduing the bees with smoke. Then, they break open the tree or rocks where the colony is often found.
resulting in the physical destruction of the colony.
Africa
Honey hunting in Africa is part of many indigenous cultures. Hunters have done it for thousands of years.
Asia
Nepal
The documentary is by freelance photo journalists Diane Summers and Eric Valli. It is about the Honey hunters of Nepal. It documents Gurung tribesmen of west-central
Nepal. They enter the jungle to search for wild honey. They use native tools in risky conditions to collect it.
Twice a year, in the Himalayan foothills of central Nepal, teams of men gather around cliffs. These cliffs are home to the world's largest honeybee, Apis laboriosa.
As they have for generations, the men come to harvest the Himalayan cliff bee's honey.
This was also shown in a BBC2 documentary in August 2008. They named the documentary Jimmy and the Wild Honey Hunters-Sun. An English farmer travelled into the
Himalayan foothills on a honey hunting expedition. The world's largest honeybee is A. laboriosa. It is over twice the size of those in the UK. Their larger bodies
help them adapted to the colder climate for insulation. The documentary involved climbing a 200-foot rope ladder. Then, balancing a basket and a long pole to chisel
away.at a giant honey comb of up to 2 million bees and catch it in the basket.
For centuries, the Gurung people of Nepal risked their lives. They did this to collect wild cliff-honey. Photos of Andrew Newey capture this dying tradition.
Bangladesh and India
The Sunderban forest is in Bangladesh and India's West Bengal. Estuarine forests are the area of operation of honey hunters there. Their name is "Mawals".
This is a dangerous job. Many honeyhunters die in tiger attacks. The attacks are common in this area. The harvest ritual, which varies from community
to community, begins with a prayer and sacrifice of flowers, fruits, and rice. Then a fire is lit at the base of the cliff to smoke the bees from their honeycombs.
Indonesia
The people in Riau Province call the traditional method of harvesting honey Menumbai. The Petalangan people, who live in the Sialang tree, perform this skill.
Tanah Ulayat forest area, Pelalawan. Menumbai Pelalawan is a way of taking honey from a beehive using a bucket and rope. To prevent the bees from stinging the body,
People recite mantras and rhymes while taking the honey. Menumbai Pelalawan is only done in wild bee hives and only in the afternoon.
Mellivory
Mellivory is a term for the eating of honey. Honey is sweet and sticky. Eusocial insects, like bees, make it. They make it to feed their hives, especially their
young. Many animals eat honey. This includes humans. Humans have developed beekeeping to make honey supplies reliable and plentiful. Honey has limited antimicrobial
properties. The very high osmotic pressure of its sugars causes them. But, it remains a food source for many microorganisms.
Nutrition
Honey is a syrup made of many simple sugars, mostly fructose and glucose. Wild honey also has traces of bee larvae. They add fat, protein, vitamins, and minerals.
In many places, honey is the main food for the organisms that eat it. Some suggest that honey's energy helped humans evolve big brains. Big brains are costly.
Honey also fights germs.