Abstract
Written sources and iconographic evidence suggest that honey and beehive products, used in culinary, medicinal, and technological functions since pre-Neolithic times, were likely known and used in Phoenician and Punic Sardinia. The role of these resources is nonetheless poorly understood because no direct evidence survives on a macroscopic level. Significant advances in the knowledge about beeswax and beehive products processing in the past have been offered in recent decades by organic residue analyses (ORA), an approach that enables the characterisation of surviving chemical compounds or suites of compounds that provide information relating to human activity in the past. The relatively recalcitrant nature of lipid compounds comprising beeswax means that this commodity is among the products that can be unambiguously identified through ORA. Here we present and discuss the results of analyses undertaken on 368 pottery sherds from Phoenician and Punic Sardinia (eighth to third century BCE). These analyses offer direct evidence for the presence of beehive products on the island, suggesting the use of honey for culinary purposes in pots, and possibly connecting one specific vessel category with beeswax decanting during beekeeping and honey production processes. Our results also now clearly illustrate the widespread use of beehive products in pre-Roman Sardinia.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 354-369 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| Journal | Archaeometry |
| Volume | 65 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Early online date | 28 Jul 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 10 Mar 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors would like to thank the following people and institutions for their help in developing the research: the Arts and Humanities Research Council for funding the research through the South West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership; the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Beni Culturali e Paesaggio per la città metropolitanadi Cagliari e le province di Oristano e Sud Sardegna, Office of the Minister of Culture in Italy, for the permission of sampling pottery and the help in selecting and collecting them; and the Organic Geochemistry Unit at the University of Bristol and Helen Whelton, Emmanuelle Casanova and Simon Hammann for technical assistance and advice. Other people are thanked for their help in selecting materials: Peter Van Dommelen (Brown University), Alfonso Stiglitz (Museo Civico di San Vero Milis), Jeremy Hayne and Andrea Roppa for the archeological mission in S'Urachi; Rubens d'Oriano and Francesco Carrera (Soprintendenza ABAP per le province di Sassari e Nuoro) for Olbia; Jacopo Bonetto (University of Padua) for the archeological mission in Nora; Chiara Pilo (Soprintendenza ABAP Cagliari) for the nuraghe San Marco; and the whole archeological mission in Santadi. We want to thank also Massimo Casagrande and Raffaella Bortolin for their invaluable insights about beekeeping in the present and the past.
Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank the following people and institutions for their help in developing the research: the Arts and Humanities Research Council for funding the research through the South West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership; the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Beni Culturali e Paesaggio per la città metropolitanadi Cagliari e le province di Oristano e Sud Sardegna, Office of the Minister of Culture in Italy, for the permission of sampling pottery and the help in selecting and collecting them; and the Organic Geochemistry Unit at the University of Bristol and Helen Whelton, Emmanuelle Casanova and Simon Hammann for technical assistance and advice. Other people are thanked for their help in selecting materials: Peter Van Dommelen (Brown University), Alfonso Stiglitz (Museo Civico di San Vero Milis), Jeremy Hayne and Andrea Roppa for the archeological mission in S'Urachi; Rubens d'Oriano and Francesco Carrera (Soprintendenza ABAP per le province di Sassari e Nuoro) for Olbia; Jacopo Bonetto (University of Padua) for the archeological mission in Nora; Chiara Pilo (Soprintendenza ABAP Cagliari) for the nuraghe San Marco; and the whole archeological mission in Santadi. We want to thank also Massimo Casagrande and Raffaella Bortolin for their invaluable insights about beekeeping in the present and the past.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Archaeometry published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of University of Oxford.
Keywords
- beeswax
- foodways
- gas chromatography
- honey
- lipids
- mass spectrometry
- organic residue analyses
- Phoenician
- Punic
- Sardinia