'Land flowing of milk and honey'

Ancient Egyptian writings. Pic from link

Amihai Mazar from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has found the first real evidence of beekeeping the ancient east. In 2005 he excavated 30 clay cylinders which appear to be similar to ancient egyptian drawings. The hives were 80cm long and 40cm in diameter; the bees entered from a hole on one end and on the other end there was a flap so that the bee keeper could reach in and harvest honey.

I find this to be amazing. Another interesting fact is that the bees were not even local stock. They appear to be imported from what is now Turkey because the Turkish bees are less aggressive and up to 8 times more productive than the local Syrian stock. They determined what the bees were because their were some bees left in the hives.

Check out the article and the additional pictures.

Biblical Beekeeping