xii THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE 
mould thus formed was filled with the molten 
metal. These models, no doubt, were in many 
cases carved out of wood; but it is certain that 
another and more ductile material was often used. 
Bronze ornaments have been found with thumb- 
marks upon them, obviously chance impressions 
on the original model faithfully reproduced. And 
the substance of these models could hardly have 
been anything else than beeswax. 
But speculation on the probable antiquity of 
bee-keeping need not stop here. The best 
authorities estimate that human life has existed 
on the earth for perhaps a hundred thousand years. 
The earliest traces of man, far back in the twilight 
of palzeolithic times, reveal him as a hunting and 
fighting animal, in whom the instinct to cultivate 
the soil or domesticate the creatures about him 
had not yet developed. Later on in the Stone 
Age—but still in infinitely remote times—it is 
evident that he tamed several creatures, such as 
the ox, the sheep, and the goat, keeping them in 
confinement, and killing them for food as he re- 
quired it, instead of resorting to the old ceaseless 
roaming after wild game. At this time, too, he 
took to sowing corn, and even baking or charring 
some sort of bread. It must be remembered that 
if a hundred thousand years is to be set down as 
