Reviewed by Elena P. · Last Updated October 15, 2026 · How we review
The Malia Pendant is a gold Minoan jewel, about 4.6 cm (1.8 in) tall, showing two insects that face each other and hold a disc between them. It was found in 1930 in the Chrysolakkos cemetery at Malia on Crete, dates to roughly 1800 to 1700 BC, and is on display in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum. The museum calls the insects bees. Scholars have argued for decades about whether that is right.
Key Takeaways
- The pendant was excavated in 1930 at Chrysolakkos (“pit of gold”), a cemetery near the Minoan town of Malia, and was first published by Pierre Demargne that same year.
- Sources date it between 2000 and 1650 BC. The Heraklion Museum gives 1800 to 1700 BC.
- The museum reads the insects as bees holding a honeycomb. A 1981 paper argued for honeybees and a pollen ball. A 2020 paper proposed the mammoth wasp and tied the three dangling discs to a Cretan plant.
- The goldsmith combined four techniques: filigree, granulation, repoussé and incised decoration.
- No source we read settles the question. Treat “bee pendant” as the traditional name, not a proven identification.
Table of Contents
- Where It Was Found and Where to See It
- What the Pendant Shows
- Bee or Wasp? Who Argued What
- Honeycomb or Pollen Ball? A Beekeeper’s Question
- How Old Is It?
- What It Tells Us About Minoan Honey
- Frequently Asked Questions
Where It Was Found and Where to See It
The pendant came from Chrysolakkos, which means “pit of gold” and is a burial enclosure near the Minoan town of Malia on Crete’s north coast. French archaeologists excavated it in 1930, and Pierre Demargne published the first description in the Bulletin de correspondance hellénique the same year.
The pendant is in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, which lists it as inventory number X-A559, Gallery II, Case 19, in its online catalogue. Displays are rearranged from time to time, so check the museum before you travel.
What the Pendant Shows
Per the museum’s description, two bees with open wings face each other, joined at the head and stinger. They hold a disc that is probably a honeycomb, and the round object between their mouths is thought to be a drop of honey. The discs hanging from the stingers and wings are decorative, as is the tiny cage holding a loose bead above their heads. The back is flat gold sheet.
It measures 4.6 cm high and 4.4 cm wide, and Live Science, citing the museum, gives its weight as 5.5 grams, about a US quarter. The goldsmith used filigree (twisted wire), granulation (tiny fused beads), repoussé (relief hammered from behind) and incised lines. The museum calls it a masterpiece of Minoan miniature art.
Bee or Wasp? Who Argued What
Sir Arthur Evans suggested the insects were bees, which is where the name comes from. Since then, specialists have pointed to long, tapering abdomens that look more like a wasp’s than a honeybee’s. Here are the main positions, as far as we could check them in the sources.
| Reading | Who | Main argument |
|---|---|---|
| Honeybees | Heraklion Museum; Kitchell (1981) | Museum: bees with a honeycomb and honey drop. Kitchell: the Minoan bee hieroglyph, borrowed from Egypt, shows the same elongated shape. |
| Hornets | Marinatos (1970), Pendlebury (1939), as cited by Kitchell | Abdomens too long and pointed for bees. |
| Wasps | Richards (1974), Davenport (1975), LaFleur and colleagues (1979), as cited by Kitchell | Anatomy fits wasps better. LaFleur read the central disc as a miniature paper-wasp nest. |
| Mammoth wasp | Nelson, Mavrofridis and Anagnostopoulos (2020) | Insects modeled on Megascolia maculata; the three discs resemble fruits of a native Cretan herb, Tordylium apulum. |
The 2020 paper’s abstract puts its case in one sentence:
“Megascolia maculata, a member of the order Hymenoptera, is proposed as the model for the insects.”
Kitchell’s paper answers the anatomy objections differently. He lists them himself: each insect has only two legs and one wing, no antennae, and a rounded eye. His conclusion is that this is not a drawing for an entomologist.
“We are dealing with art, not illustration.”
If you want a field guide for telling the insects apart in real life, see our bee versus wasp identification guide.
Honeycomb or Pollen Ball? A Beekeeper’s Question
The museum reads the disc as “probably a honeycomb.” Kitchell disagreed, and his reasons will be familiar to anyone who has watched foragers return to a hive. He argued the disc lacks hexagonal cells, that bees do not carry pieces of their home around, and that the granulated surface looks like a pollen load. He reports that professional bee breeders he consulted identified it as a pollen ball, the kind carried in pouches on a worker’s hind legs. Our guide to honeybee anatomy covers that pollen basket, and how bees gather pollen shows what a loaded forager looks like.
That is one scholar’s argument, not the museum’s position, and the 2020 paper takes the wasp route instead. The honest summary is that the central disc has been called a honeycomb, a pollen ball and a paper nest.
How Old Is It?
Sources disagree by a few centuries. The museum gives 1800 to 1700 BC, Wikipedia gives 1800 to 1650 BC, and Kitchell writes that dating is difficult and that the piece is usually assigned to roughly 2000 to 1700 BC.
What It Tells Us About Minoan Honey
A jewel is not a beehive, so the pendant is evidence of what the Minoans valued, not of how they kept bees. The museum is direct about the link:
“The pendant is a condensed depiction of honey production.”
The museum adds that honey and wax were important to the Minoan economy, citing other finds and laboratory analyses of organic residues, and that bees appear to have been religious symbols of fertility and rebirth. For working evidence of ancient hives, compare the excavated apiary at Tel Rehov and beekeeping in ancient Egypt. For the wider picture, see ancient beekeeping practices and bee symbolism across cultures.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the Malia Pendant today?
It is in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum on Crete. The museum’s online catalogue lists it in Gallery II, Case 19.
How old is the Malia Pendant?
The museum dates it to 1800 to 1700 BC, the Protopalatial period. Other sources range from 2000 to 1650 BC.
Is the Malia Pendant really a bee?
The museum calls the insects bees, and Kitchell (1981) argued for honeybees. Other scholars have proposed hornets or wasps, and a 2020 paper proposed the mammoth wasp. It is unresolved.
What is the Malia Pendant made of?
Gold, shaped with filigree, granulation, repoussé and incised decoration. The back is a flat gold sheet, and it weighs about 5.5 grams.
What do the three small discs represent?
The museum calls them decorative. The 2020 paper argued they resemble the fruits of Tordylium apulum, a native Cretan herb.
Who found the Malia Pendant?
French archaeologists excavating Chrysolakkos found it in 1930, and Pierre Demargne published it that year.
Where to Go Next
If the bee-or-wasp question interests you, read the two papers cited above; both abstracts are free. For another ancient bee emblem, see the bee of Ephesus.
Image credits: Photo: Cayambe, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
