Human beekeeping or apiculture has been practised for millennia, since at least the times of Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece. Apart from honey and pollination, honey bees produce beeswax, royal jelly and propolis.
Bees have appeared in mythology and folklore, through all phases of art and literature, from ancient times to the present day, though primarily focused in the Northern Hemisphere, where beekeeping is far more common.
Honey is a natural product produced by bees and stored for their
own use, but its sweetness has always appealed to humans. Before domestication
of bees was even attempted, humans were raiding their nests for their honey.
Smoke was often used to subdue the bees and such activities are depicted in rock paintings in Spain which have been dated to 15,000 BC.
Woman gathering honey, - Mesolithic (c. 10,000/8000–c. 3000 bce) Cueva de la Arana, near Bicorp, Spain; Museum of Prehistory, Valencia, Spain.
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