Ancient Israelites imported honeybees from Turkey.
Although Turkey is currently in the dog house for many Israelis because of its involvement in the violent Mavi Marmara flotilla incident, during biblical times the Israelites imported bees from Turkey for the industrial production of honey in the Beit She’an Valley, according to a new archeological discovery by researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
An interesting bit of archeological sleuthing.
It also shows that three millennia ago the near east had sophisticated trade in agricultural technologies, in this case moving bee species around for food production.