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→Early Use
==Early Use==
The earliest evidence for the use of honey comes from Spain (Figure 1), at about 8-9,0000 years ago. At about 5500 years ago, honey was found in burials in Georgia, suggesting they were used as gifts in the afterlife. However, very likely the use of honey goes back much further. Neanderthals probably used honey as a food they gathered and even our nearest relatives in the ape family are known to utilize honey. Scientists estimate that the evolution for sweet tastes developed in our ancestors at about 15 million years, long before even apes arose. It is postulated that honey could have been a key factor in the evolution or desire for sweet foods that we have now inherited. The main reason is foods with fructose can be vital in periods when starvation is prevalent. It has high amounts of energy relative to the amount that one needs to consume to survive.
In the 3rd millennium BCE, both ancient Mesopotamia, in Sumer or modern southern Iraq, and Egypt show evidence of beekeeping having developed. Honey, at this point, was used as an offering for the worship of gods and for food consumption. Beeswax was also utilized for making lost wax products such as metals, candles, sealings, and even as dental filling. The importance of beeswax and honey, in fact, led to the development of beekeeping as an important profession already by the third millennium BCE. Beehives were kept in temples as well as by private beekeepers, who traded honey and beeswax. The Hittite law codes mention fines given to those who would steel from beehives, indicating the importance that beehives had to the economy not only for food but also for wax.
