Archaeologists have re-examined a 2500-year-old residue present in bronze jars at an underground shrine in Paestum, Italy, beforehand recognized as a wax/fats/resin combination. Utilizing a multianalytical strategy, the authors have detected lipids, saccharide decomposition merchandise, hexose sugars, and main royal jelly proteins supporting the speculation that the jars as soon as additionally contained honey/honeycombs.
Paestum honey: (A) underground shrine in Paestum, Italy; (B) one of many hydrias on show alongside a Perspex field containing the residue on the Ashmolean Museum in 2019; (C) graphic illustration of the association of the bronze jars contained in the shrine; (D) pattern from the core of the residue. Picture credit score: da Costa Carvalho et al., doi: 10.1021/jacs.5c04888.
Honey was a pivotal substance in historical societies.
Historic accounts and pictures point out that honey was used as an early sweetener in medicinal preparations, in rituals, and in cosmetics.
In historical Greek and Roman cultures, bees and honey held vital non secular and symbolic significance.
Honey was believed to nurture knowledge, with myths suggesting that Zeus himself was fed honey as a toddler.
The identification of honey in archeological residues gives direct chemical proof of bee product assortment, exploitation, and processing, shedding mild on early farming and subsistence methods in numerous areas of the world.
In 1954, archeologists excavating within the historical Greek settlement relationship to round 520 BCE in Paestum in southern Italy discovered an underground shrine to an unknown deity containing bronze jars — six hydrae and two amphorae — surrounding an empty iron mattress.
The jars contained a paste-like residue with a robust wax aroma.
Archaeologists reported the residue to have been initially a liquid or viscous liquid, as traces of it have been discovered on the outside of the vessels, which have been initially sealed with cork disks.
Their excavation report emphasised the sacredness of the shrine: the empty mattress and the inaccessibility of the shrine signify that the deity was there.
Furthermore, the archeologists recognized the unique contents of the bronze jars as having been honey, a ‘image of immortality,’ initially provided as honeycombs however of which solely beeswax remained as the principle ingredient.
Nevertheless, three subsequent lab analyses of various samples of the residue excluded honey from its composition.
In 2019, when the Paestum residue arrived on the Ashmolean Museum for show on the Final Supper in Pompeii exhibition, it supplied a brand new alternative to reinvestigate its biomolecular composition, making the most of latest advances in mass spectrometry instrumentation.
College of Oxford researchers Luciana da Costa Carvalho and James McCullagh and their colleagues analyzed samples of the residue utilizing a number of trendy analytical methods to find out its molecular make-up.
They discovered that the traditional residue had a chemical fingerprint practically an identical to that of contemporary beeswax and trendy honey, with the next acidity stage that was according to adjustments after long-term storage.
The residue’s chemical composition was extra advanced than that of the heat-degraded beeswax, suggesting the presence of honey or different substances.
The place the residue had touched the bronze jar, degraded sugar combined with copper was discovered.
Hexose sugars, a typical group of sugars present in honey, have been detected in greater concentrations within the historical residue than in trendy beeswax.
Royal jelly proteins — identified to be secreted by the western honeybee — have been additionally recognized within the residue.
These outcomes counsel that the traditional substance is what’s left of historical honey.
Nevertheless, the researchers can’t exclude the likelihood that different bee merchandise may be current.
“Historic residues aren’t simply traces of what individuals ate or provided to the gods — they’re advanced chemical ecosystems,” Dr. da Costa Carvalho stated.
“Learning them reveals how these substances modified over time, opening the door to future work on historical microbial exercise and its attainable functions.”
A paper describing the analysis was revealed in the present day within the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
_____
Luciana da Costa Carvalho et al. A Image of Immortality: Proof of Honey in Bronze Jars Present in a Paestum Shrine Relationship to 530-510 BCE. J. Am. Chem. Soc, revealed on-line July 30, 2025; doi: 10.1021/jacs.5c04888
