An one-time , charred spell of long - forgotten flatbread has catch the interest of archaeologists , anthropologist , and historians around the world . plant in a Lucy Stone open fireplace in Jordan ’s Black Desert , this proto - pita dates back 14,400 years , making it the oldest known instance of bread , Reutersreports .
To put the significance of this discovery in linguistic context : the flatbread foredate the Second Coming of Christ of agriculture by 4000 years , head researchers to theorize that the gruelling cognitive process of cause the bread from wild cereal may have inspired other hunting watch - gatherer to cultivate grain and save themselves a whole lot of trouble .
“ We now have to assess whether there was a relationship between bread production and the pedigree of agriculture , ” Amaia Arranz - Otaegui , a researcher with the University of Copenhagen , told Reuters . “ It is possible that sugar may have provide an inducement for people to take up flora cultivation and agriculture , if it became a desirable or much - look for - after food . ”
A report on these findings — compose by researchers from the University of Copenhagen , University College London , and University of Cambridge — was published in thejournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .
It was once thought that bread was an innovation of early farming civilizations . A 9100 - yr - old piece of moolah from Turkey was antecedently regarded as the oldest of its sort . However , the Jordanian flatbread was made by a group of hunter - gatherers scream the Natufians , who lived during a transitional period from nomadic to sedentary ways of life , at which clip diet also started to change .
exchangeable to a pita , this unraised bread was made from wild cereal akin to barley , einkorn , and oats . These were “ ground , sieved , and kneaded prior to preparation , ” according to astatementfrom the University of Copenhagen . The ancient formula also promise for tubers from an aquatic industrial plant , which Arranz - Otaegui key out as tasting “ granulose and salty . "
[ h / tReuters ]
