Upcoming Lecture

Beekeeping is often considered to be the second oldest profession, and the first definitive evidence of true beekeeping comes from ancient Egypt. In fact, one of the earliest titles from the Pharaonic period is a "sealer of honey", showing the importance of the honey industry from the very beginning. This talk will begin by assessing ancient Egyptian understanding of honeybee behavior and society, from busy builders and flapping creatures to a perfect model of an organized society with specialized division of labor under a royal leader, or queen bee. Then it will assess surviving tomb scenes of offerings and jar labels to identify the vast variety of honey available to ancient Egyptians and continue on to examine letters, apiculture scenes, tribute scenes, census documents and beekeeping titles to identify how the Pharaoh, central government, and temples controlled production and distribution of honey across Egypt. It will end with some discussion of accessibility of honey to the ancient Egyptian populace, particularly in the New Kingdom in government issued rations and even a marriage contract demanding a husband procure a significant amount of honey for his wife per year! This talk stems from a book project Shelby Justl is working on about ancient Egyptian beekeeping and the administration of the honey industry.

Shelby Justl has an MA with distinction in Egyptology from the University of Liverpool, a PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations with a concentration in Egyptian Archaeology, and a minor in Near Eastern Art and Archaeology from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Justl is a Lecturer in Critical Writing at UPenn. Her seminars focus on archaeology and the ancient world, including ones on world mythology and archaeological fakes, frauds, and hoaxes. Dr. Justl is also a Consulting Scholar in the Egyptian section of the Penn Museum as well as an active museum educator and program developer. She teaches interactive workshops on ancient Egyptian daily life, archaeology, experimental archaeology, and cultural heritage preservation. She participated in several Penn Museum expeditions to South Abydos, Egypt and published her research and translation of an unearthed ostracon in the Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt.

Her research interests include ancient Egyptian daily life, society, economics, and "luxury" goods and materials. She is working on two book projects: one based on her PhD dissertation, an analysis of administration and operations of the ancient Egyptian semiprecious stone industry from quarrying to processing and distribution; and the other on ancient Egyptian beekeeping and the honey industry.

To attend this month's lecture remotely, please click here to enter the Zoom conference: