Long-term behaviour of 137Cs in archived honey samples from a lowland mosaic landscape and a forest-influenced locality in southern Slovakia (1957-2001).

Honey and honeybee products are widely recognised as effective bioindicators of environmental contamination due to their ability to integrate pollutants over large foraging areas. In this study, archived honey samples were used to reconstruct the long-term dynamics of radiocaesium (¹³⁷Cs) in southern Slovakia. Archived honey samples originating from two contrasting environments in southern Slovakia were analysed retrospectively using high-resolution gamma spectrometry. The dataset comprised honey samples from a lowland locality (1958-2001, n = 35) and honey samples originating from a nearby forest locality (1957-1972, n = 13). Temporal variations in ¹³⁷Cs activity in nectar honey reflected major historical sources of radiocaesium. Detectable activities in the late 1950s and early 1960s corresponded to global fallout from atmospheric nuclear weapons testing, while a pronounced peak in 1986 (3.43 ± 0.76 Bq·kg⁻¹) most likely reflects deposition following the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident. A rapid post-Chernobyl decline was observed during the late 1980s, followed by low-level fluctuations near the detection limit. Honey samples originating from the forest locality exhibited more frequent detection and generally higher ¹³⁷Cs activity during the pre-Chernobyl period. The results confirm that archived honey represents a valuable matrix for retrospective radioecological studies. At the same time, the findings highlight the importance of considering ecosystem context and compositional variability when interpreting radiocaesium activity in different honey types.