Sticky residue inside bronze vessels found in an underground shrine in Paestum, southern Italy, has been identified as honey. A new method of analysis identified the substance 70 years after it was discovered, contradicting previous analyses and confirming the hypothesis of the archaeologists who first excavated the shrine.

Paestum was an important Greek colony founded in 600 B.C. on the Tyrrhenian Sea coast near what is now Salerno. It is famed for its three great Doric temples (dedicated to Hera, Athena and Neptune) dating to between 550 and 450 B.C. and in better condition than many of its brethren on the Greek mainland.

The vessel was discovered in 1954 in a heroön near the Temple of Athena. , Dating to around 520 B.C., the shrine consisted of a tumulus within a rectangular enclosure faced by large stones. The excavation of the tumulus uncovered a pitched limestone roof over an underground chamber. The chamber contained eight bronze vessels — six hydrae (water jars) and two amphorae — with spectacularly decorated handles and one black figure amphora made in Athens. The pots were arranged around an empty iron bed, representing the presence of a deity, or more likely, the founder of the city who had died a century before the shrine was built.

Residue of a thick, paste-like substance were found inside the vessels with traces of it on the exterior indicating it had originally been a liquid. The substance had a waxy smell and archaeologists at the time thought it was an offering of a honeycomb, a symbol of immortality in Greek mythology, of which only the beeswax had survived. This was contradicted by scientific testing, however. Three different laboratory analyses on different samples of the substance — the first test a few years after excavation, the second in 1970, the third in 1983 — excluded honey. No sugar was ever found; the residue did not dissolve and water and its fatty acids suggested it had contained animal and/or vegetable fats.

One of the bronze hydrae and a large chunk of residue were loaned to Oxford University’s Ashmolean Museum in 2019. The museum was able to perform a new investigation of the residue’s composition using a combination of spectroscopy, high resolution chromatography and mass spectrometry analyses.

They found that:

• The ancient residue had a chemical fingerprint nearly identical to that of modern beeswax and modern honey, with a higher acidity level that was consistent with changes after long-term storage.
• The residue’s chemical composition was more complex than that of the heat-degraded beeswax, suggesting the presence of honey or other substances.
• Where the residue had touched the bronze jar, degraded sugar mixed with copper was found.
• Hexose sugars, a common group of sugars found in honey, were detected in higher concentrations in the ancient residue than in modern beeswax.
• Royal jelly proteins (known to be secreted by the western honeybee) were also identified in the residue.

These results suggest that the ancient substance is what is left of ancient honey. However, the researchers can’t exclude the possibility that other bee products may also be present.

“Ancient residues aren’t just traces of what people ate or offered to the gods — they are complex chemical ecosystems,” explains [research team leader Luciana] da Costa Carvalho. “Studying them reveals how those substances changed over time, opening the door to future work on ancient microbial activity and its possible applications.”

The results of the scientific analyses have been published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society and can be read here.

Archaeologists have discovered a double-sided polychrome mural carved in high and low relief at the ancient site of Huaca Yolanda in the La Libertad region of Peru. It is between 3,000 and 4,000 years old, dating to before the production of ceramics in the region. It is unique on the Peruvian archaeological record for its 3D design and iconography, including a depiction of a fish caught in a net, stars and plants visible from both sides of the mural. The figures are painted in blue, yellow and black.

The mural is more than 16 feet wide and 6.5 feet high. It was found on the side of a hill in the village of Tanguche. It is in an excellent state of preservation because it was buried in antiquity in order to build another structure on top of it, a common practice at the site.

The figures not only depict marine fauna , but also suggest scenes with a deep spiritual connection to the surrounding resources. The piece, being double-sided, would have been part of a sacred space, probably dedicated to rituals linked to water and fertility.

Archaeologist Ana Cecilia Mauricio Llonto has clarified that the mural is part of a complex architectural concept that demonstrates remarkable planning and a deliberate use of color. Given its characteristics, this discovery is unprecedented in the region and could be among the oldest on the entire continent. “The use of cool colors like blue, in addition to three-dimensional forms, suggests a ritual relationship with the sea and natural cycles ,” Mauricio explained to local media, highlighting the cultural and scientific significance of the discovery.

Huaca Yolanda, known for its adobe buildings, is one of the oldest in the Americas and opens a unique window into the earliest architecture of the Chao Valley. The heritage site is at risk from agricultural expansion, threatened by heavy machinery illegally advancing into the protected archaeological zone. Drones surveying the site have captured images of cultivating machines perilously close to the fragile mural and other adobe structures. This is not the work of small local farmers, but of well-resourced, big money operations who are plotting to cultivate vast tracts of the site, create cisterns to store water for irrigation and/or mine through and under the precious archaeological remains.

They act with impunity, despite residents of the area having filed numerous complaints to the authorities. Ana Cecilia Mauricio Llonto is appealing to officials to take definitive action to protect the endangered site by building strong perimeter fencing and adding specialized security staff to guard it 24-7. The archaeologists are also reaching out to the local population to increase engagement. The whole Tanguche community has rallied around the newly-discovered mural. They want to paint a mural of the mural to welcome visitors to the hamlet and the archaeological team have invited students from the local high school and the entire village to see the mural in situ.

A rare bronze cauldron from Late Antiquity has been unearthed in the courtyard of the Roman-era residential complex in Pergamon, modern-day Bergama in western Turkey. The cauldron is intact and in its original condition. It is estimated to date to the 7th century, when the luxury home, a peristyle villa known as Mosaic House after its elaborate mosaic floors, was abandoned after it was burned in an Arab raid.

The bronze cauldron was found inside a stone slab pool in the central courtyard. It appears to have been dropped in the pool right before the villa was abandoned and therefore never recovered, despite the high value of the bronze.

Excavation Director Prof. Dr. Sezgin stated, “Bronze was an important material, especially in structures of this type, in antiquity. The most commonly used materials in daily life were terracotta, or ceramic products. However, bronze is an expensive and valuable material. Therefore, it was used in more specialized areas and for specific purposes. The bronze cauldron found here was found in its original location, in its original condition. In other words, it was used in antiquity, abandoned, and never touched again. We unearthed it. This is very important because it shows us the materials of the structure in their final phase of use, as they were. This provides direct information about the cultural understanding, usage patterns, and daily life of that period.”

Pergamon was settled at least as far back as the 8th century B.C., and over the centuries was alternately under the control of Greek allies and the Persian Empire. Alexander the Great permanently liberated it from Persian control. Only a few artifacts from the Archaic city survive and a small section of wall and foundation from two 4th century temples. It became the capital of the Attalid Kingdom of Pergamon from the 3rd century B.C. The Attalid kings wanted to transform the city into a “second Athens,” so they completely rebuilt it on a monumental scale. It flourished into a major center of Greek culture with a renowned library, a theater and a vast acropolis at the top of the hill. The monumental Pergamon Altar, now in the museum dedicated to it in Berlin, is considered one of the greatest wonders of Hellenistic art and architecture.

The last king bequeathed the city to the Roman Republic in 133 B.C. and it was absorbed into the Roman province of Asia. Under the Roman Empire, Pergamon was expanded and remodeled again, and by the mid-2nd century, it was one of the largest cities in Roman Asia. Its shrine to Asclepius was a center of health and healing famous throughout the empire, and Galen, the pre-eminent 3rd century physician, was born there and received his schooling at the Asclepion.

The city was damaged by earthquakes and Goth raids in the 3rd century, and its economy neared collapse during the Crisis of the Third Century (235–284 A.D.). It recovered somewhat in the 4th century, but it contracted back to the more defendable acropolis under pressure from recurring Arab raids in the 7th century, while the rest of the great Hellenistic and Roman city was left to ruin.

The Mosaic House was built in the city’s heyday between the 2nd and 3rd centuries and later modified repeatedly. The ornate mosaic floors feature floral and geometric patterns in several colors, motifs popular in Greek mosaic work found in the wealthy homes of Anatolia in the 3rd and 4th centuries.

Intriguing elements recycled from other locations have been found in the villa complex, most notably a sealed roof tile from the Hellenistic era stamped “Basilike,” meaning “belonging to the king.” These were used in royal buildings on the acropolis, but the example found in the Mosaic House is the only fully intact sealed one found in Pergamon. Another recycled piece was found in the same courtyard pool where the bronze cauldron was found: it’s a touching tombstone inscribed “The Sweetest Child in the World” commissioned by his mother. It is decorated with a carving of the child and his dog hunting rabbits.

Byzantine-era graves have been found at the site, some of the last Byzantine burials in Pergamon before the Islamic conquest. Several of the graves contained more than one burial, evidence that resources were scarce in Pergamon in the last days of Byzantine rule. The bronze vessel abandoned in the rain pool would have been all the more valuable in this period of contraction and scarcity. Someone had to get out there as quickly as possible, leaving everything behind.