Cortiços: Portugal’s Traditional Cork-Bark Beehives
Cortiços are Portugal's traditional cylindrical beehives made from harvested cork bark, used since the Roman era and still kept today in the Barroso highlands.
Tag Traditional hive types
Read MoreCortiços: Portugal’s Traditional Cork-Bark Beehives
Bartnictwo: Poland’s UNESCO-Listed Tree Beekeeping Tradition
Bartnictwo is Poland's centuries-old tradition of tending bees in cavities carved into living trees, documented since the 13th century and inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in December 2020.
Bee Gums: The Hollow-Log Beehives of Old Appalachia
Before modern hives, Appalachian beekeepers housed colonies in hollowed-out black gum tree trunks. Here's how bee gums were built, populated, and harvested — and why the practice eventually faded.
Bortnichestvo: Russia’s Ancient Tree Beekeeping Tradition
Deep in the pine and linden forests of the southern Ural mountains, in Russia’s Bashkortostan region, beekeepers still climb living trees using a leather climbing belt and spiked hand tools…
Beekeeping in Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt's organized beekeeping is documented as far back as the Niuserre temple relief (c. 2445-2421 BCE), the oldest known depiction of beekeeping, alongside the bee's role in royal titulary and mythology.