There is evidence that man has long known that honey is a valuable food source. Early rock paintings on cave walls in Africa and eastern Spain show people gathering honey from trees or rock crevices while bees fly around them (Crane 1999). A rock painting called the “Man of Bicorp” shown in Fig. 1 was discovered in 1921 in the Cueva de la Arana (Spider Cave) in Valencia, Spain. The painting depicts a human figure near a cavity where there is a beehive. Hanging on three lianas, he is picking up honeycombs, while nearby are some stylized bees. The painting is believed to be over 15,000 years old and dates back to the end of the Paleolithic Period. Rock art from other caves has been found, which shows figures surrounded by bees without being stung.
“Man of Bicorp” ca. 15000 BCE. Paleolithic rock painting showing honey collection from a wild nest, Cueva de la Arana, Bicorp, Valencia, Spain (Drawing E. Hernandez‐Pacheco). http://www.rupestre.net/tracce/bicorp.html.
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Hajar, R. (2008). Honey and Medicine. In: Selin, H. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4425-0_9705
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