Mummified Bronze Age bees unearthed in Portugal, revealing ancient secrets of survival

As revealed in the publication "Papers in Palaeontology," the archaeological site in Odemira, located south of Lisbon, has been the venue of a striking discovery. Thousands of Bronze Age bees have been found immaculately preserved, having undergone the fossilization process. They've transformed into specimens void of decay, typical of vertebrate fossils.

Bees have always been significant pollinators and humans' companions since time immemorial. However, the direct traces of their existence are seldom found in fossil forms.

The bodies of bees pose a challenge when it comes to fossilization. They don't have skeletons and instead have a chitinous shell referred to as a cuticle. While alive, the cuticle grants them necessary stiffness, but because chitin is an organic compound, it hastens the rapid decomposition of the bee's body after death.

The ancient bees unearthed in Portugal defied nature's course and were fossilized, remaining sealed within their cocoons. Their preservation is so remarkable that scientists were able to ascertain their species. They belong to the genus Eucera, more commonly known as long-horned bees, which are still found in today's world. Long-horned bees are solitary bees known to nest underground.

Moreover, non-invasive imaging techniques have allowed the examination of the anatomical details of the bees encapsulated in the cocoons. This includes identifying their development stage and gender. Interestingly, even the supply of flower pollen stored by the bee mother constructing the cocoon has survived through time.

The reason behind their resistance to decay is rather intriguing. It appears that the mother bee in essence "mummified" her offspring. The fossilization occurred because the waterproof lining of each cocoon, made of organic polymer fiber, preserved the bees perfectly.

An adult bee generates this protective lining during its reproductive phase, providing larvae with protection from adverse weather conditions. However, in this instance, such measures were not successful, as the young bees were either killed by freezing temperatures or drowned during a flood. While they failed to carry on the species, they left an imprint lasting millennia.