<<<<Does anyone on this list know the history of who ,when,where etc. it
was
first discovered that bees could be enticed to build their hives in
boxes?>>>>>
 
It depends what you mean by box.  If you mean wooden hives made by
carpenters and cabinet makers these were in use in England in the
seventeenth century.  If you mean containers fashioned by man for the use 
of bees you must go back some three centuries B.C. to the days of the
ancient Egyptians.  They fashioned hives in the form of baked mud tubes
like drainpipes and such hives are still in use in Egypt today.  The Romans
had hives made of brick, boards, plaited willow containers coated with clay
and cowdung, baked mud and clay, quite a variety.  In England straw was
plentiful and cheap so the peasants hives were inverted plaited straw
baskets (skeps).  They are still made today, usually as a hobby.  They are
very light and ideal for taking swarms.  Today in the poorer parts of the 
world hives are still made of local materials that cost little.
May I recommend two books if you wish to study this subject.   
The Archaelogy of Beekeeping by Dr Eva Crane.  First published 1983.  ISBN
0 7156 1681 1
Beekeeping in Antiquity by H M Fraser.  Published 1931 and out of print but
might be found in a good library.
If you can find a copy of Roots ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture dated 1954 you 
will find a very useful section there on skeps and the development of the 
wooden hive from the seventeenth century.         Happy searching.         
Sid P.