Heated beeswax usage in mortuary practices: The case of Ḥorvat Tevet (Jezreel Valley, Israel) ca. 1000 BCE

Bee products in the prehistoric southern levant: evidence from the lipid organic record

“…Beeswax can be applied post-firing to make the vessel water resistant because of its hydrophobic nature [ 1 ]. This has been frequently suggested in ORA studies that identified beeswax [ 9 , 21 , 30 , 44 , 84 ]. A beeswax sealant would benefit vessels meant to store liquids, and correspondingly, beeswax biomarkers were identified in vessel forms related to storage and liquids—jars in this study and amphorae, juglets, flasks and chalices in previous studies [ 24 , 44 , 84 ].…”

“…This has been frequently suggested in ORA studies that identified beeswax [ 9 , 21 , 30 , 44 , 84 ]. A beeswax sealant would benefit vessels meant to store liquids, and correspondingly, beeswax biomarkers were identified in vessel forms related to storage and liquids—jars in this study and amphorae, juglets, flasks and chalices in previous studies [ 24 , 44 , 84 ]. Cooking vessels would likely not receive a beeswax sealant because beeswax melts at 62–65°C [ 15 ], so the sealant would need to be frequently reapplied, and the flavour and texture of the sealant could be undesirably incorporated into the cooked food.…”

“…Vessels were selected from ongoing excavations and assemblages stored in the Israel Antiquities Authority's collection. There was no targeted selection of specific vessels as prior studies on south Levantine sites identified beeswax inconsistently in both task-specific and unspecialized vessel forms, such as bowls, jars, cornets, chalices, flasks and lamps [ 38 , 43 , 44 ]. Correspondingly, we sampled a wide selection of vessel forms (e.g.…”

“…Similar markers were observed from a storage jar found at the Late Bronze Age III site of Tel Azekah in the Shephelah, and it was suggested that these markers were related to bee products and that the jar was used to store honey [ 43 ]. Potential evidence for beeswax was also recovered from the Iron Age I burial site of Horvat Tevet in the Jezreel Valley, and it was suggested that heated beeswax was used in burial ceremonies [ 44 ]. Finally, a sub-set of beeswax markers was recovered from a large storage jar found at Jneneh, an Iron Age II site in north-central Jordan.…”

Residue analysis evidence for wine enriched with vanilla consumed in Jerusalem on the eve of the Babylonian destruction in 586 BCE

“…It is based on the extraction, separation and identification of preserved and altered biomolecular residues of the original contents from ceramic vessels, using GC/MS (gas chromatography/ mass spectrometry). Identifying such materials is vital for understanding the daily life and economy of ancient societies in matters such as dietary habits [ 6 , 7 ], funerary and cultic customs [ 8 , 9 ] and long-distance trade networks [ 10 , 11 ].…”