Anthropology
Related: About this forumArchaeologists discover bread that predates agriculture by 4,000 years
At an archaeological site in northeastern Jordan, researchers have discovered the charred remains of a flatbread baked by hunter-gatherers 14,400 years ago. It is the oldest direct evidence of bread found to date, predating the advent of agriculture by at least 4,000 years.
The findings suggest that bread production based on wild cereals may have encouraged hunter-gatherers to cultivate cereals, and thus contributed to the agricultural revolution in the Neolithic period.
"The presence of hundreds of charred food remains in the fireplaces from Shubayqa 1 is an exceptional find, and it has given us the chance to characterize 14,000-year-old food practices. The 24 remains analysed in this study show that wild ancestors of domesticated cereals such as barley, einkorn, and oat had been ground, sieved and kneaded prior to cooking. The remains are very similar to unleavened flatbreads identified at several Neolithic and Roman sites in Europe and Turkey.
So we now know that bread-like products were produced long before the development of farming. The next step is to evaluate if the production and consumption of bread influenced the emergence of plant cultivation and domestication at all," said University of Copenhagen archaeobotanist Amaia Arranz Otaegui, who is the first author of the study.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/07/180716151513.htm
One of the stone structures of the Shubayqa 1 site. The fireplace, where the bread was found, is in the middle.
Credit: Alexis Pantos
tblue37
(66,035 posts)underpants
(186,337 posts)Interesting. Thanks.
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)lillypaddle
(9,605 posts)Crash2Parties
(6,017 posts)Considering how long modern humans have existed - with fully modern brains - it's amusing how we are so often surprised when they do something sophisticated - me included.
Especially when it's something that most modern Americans don't know how to do (think of the circle of people you know & ratio how many actually have knowledge & experience making bread from scratch).