The 1,300-year-old man-made apiary was discovered by sawmill workers in the small town of Leżajsk as they prepared to chop up the tree to turn into boards.
But after cutting the trunk open, a woodworker spotted a honeycomb, traces of honey and the remains of bees.
Piotr Piłasiewicz from the beekeeping association Bractwo Bartne said: “This may be the oldest preserved beehive in the world.
“The hollow cavity where the bees lived had completely overgrown and wasn’t visible from the outside.”
He added that the hollow tree hive was likely perfectly preserved because it had been forgotten by the beekeepers of the time, allowing it to become overgrown and naturally sealed within the tree.
The tree later fell into a river and became buried under layers of sand and silt for centuries.
Radiocarbon dating confirmed that the hive dates to around 680 AD, the same time as the tree stopped growing.
Dr. Michał Kolasa from Krakow’s National Research Institute of Animal Production noted the nest belonged to central European honeybees.
“We want to know, among other things, what the genetic similarity is between these ancient bees and the lines we protect today. Because we have whole combs, we can reconstruct what these bees ate before the development of large-scale farming,” he said.
The oak trunk is now displayed at the Museum of Beekeeping Culture in Augustów, while scientists continue studying the biological material.
