stablished their mastery over the environment. When humans first arrived, approximately one million years ago, insects had already evolved into highly diverse species, and inhabited almost every environmental niche in the world. In fact, although there is little objective proof, the archaeological record hints that primitive man was harassed by blood sucking insects, which also spread disease throughout the human community. "There is also evidence that human lice, vectors of typhus and other diseases, infected ancient peoples; the dried up remains of these pests have been found in the hair of prehistoric mummies from many parts of the world."3
However, there is yet another side to this argument. If one looks at primitive cultures in the contemporary world, one finds that many eat a variety of insects, including grubs, grasshoppers, and caterpillars. Humans also have a long tradition of using honey, a by product of the bee. In
3 Robert E. Pfadt, ed., Fundamentals of Applied Entomology, (New York: Macmillan, 1978). 1. fact, some have postulated that bees were the first instance of man attempting to domesticate insects, since bees have been raised for thousands of years for both domestic foodstuffs and as a marketable trading item. One particular example of this that shows how important certain insects were to ancient cultures is in the ancient Egyptian culture circa 3633 BC, "a hieroglyphic honey bee is inscribed on a sarcophagus. . . and a bas relief describing the process of extracting honey is depicted in the temple of Ne user re."4
During the Middle Ages, however, insects were more pest than benefit. For instance, one o
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