Oxford chemists identify honey offering in a 2,500-year-old shrine

Researchers in the University of Oxford’s Department of Chemistry have solved a decades-old archaeological puzzle by re-investigating the molecular composition of an intriguing residue found in bronze jars excavated from a 6^th century BCE Greek shrine in Paestum, southern Italy. Published today in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the study presents the first biomolecular evidence that the residue once contained honey, likely in the form of honeycomb.