Hundreds of bees found mummified in their cocoons. They’re 3,000 years old, study says

Hundreds of ancient mummies have been found.

They were preserved by pure chance, though, not by practiced embalmers; and they’re bees, not humans.

The nearly 3,000-year-old insects were discovered on the coast of Portugal, entombed inside their cocoons, according to a study published on July 27 in the journal Papers in Paleontology.

So well-preserved were the winged creatures that their precise anatomical details could be made out. Even the type of pollen present in their nest could be determined, according to an Aug. 22 news release from the University of Lisbon.

They are not honeybees, but belong to the Eucera genus, one of roughly 700 bee species occupying Portugal today.

The mummified pollinators were all young adults that had never left their nest, researchers said. Instead, they were fed pollen by their mother while encased inside their cocoons, which would become their sarcophagi.

An extremely rare method of fossilization — the result of a fluke act of nature — led to their preservation over the millennia.

A catastrophic cold snap or an extended flood likely froze or suffocated the bees to death, Carlos Neto de Carvalho, one of the study authors, said in the release.

But, once dead, a silk-like, decomposition-defying substance protected the bees’ remains.

The substance, an organic polymer produced by the mother, coated the bees’ cocoons and kept them well-preserved, Neto de Carvalho told the New York Times. The intricate, waterproof coating warded off bacteria and decay.

Using non-invasive tomography, researchers were able to capture crisp, three-dimensional images of the mummified insects.

Their hope is that by further studying the brood and what led to their death, researchers can establish methods for protecting living bee populations from climate change.

Bees, particularly honeybees, are critical for food supplies, and the warming planet has factored into their declining populations, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Google Translate was used to translate a news release from the University of Lisbon.

This story was originally published August 29, 2023 at 11:03 AM with the headline "Hundreds of bees found mummified in their cocoons. They’re 3,000 years old, study says."