Archaeologists in Turkey have unearthed what they declare to be the “oldest bread in the world,” courting again a staggering 8,600 years to 6600 BC, as reported by CNN. The discovery sheds gentle on historic culinary practices and presents insights into the diets of early civilizations. The bread, described as a palm-sized, spherical, “spongy” residue, was discovered alongside wheat, barley, and pea seeds close to an oven construction on the archaeological website of Catalhoyuk within the southern Turkish province of Konya, in accordance with a press launch by Turkey’s Necmettin Erbakan University Science and Technology Research and Application Center (BITAM).

Archaeologist Ali Umut Turkcan, head of the Excavation Delegation and an affiliate professor at Anadolu University in Turkey, hailed the discover as unprecedented, stating, “We can say that this discover at Catalhoyuk is the oldest bread on the earth,” as quoted by Turkish state information outlet Anadolu Agency.

Turkcan described the bread as a smaller model of a loaf, with a finger pressed within the centre, indicating it had not been baked however fermented. The bread, together with wooden, was preserved by a skinny layer of clay overlaying the construction, Turkcan added.
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After scanning the electron microscope photos, researchers discovered air areas within the pattern, with the sighting of starch grains “eliminating our suspicions,” biologist Salih Kavak, a lecturer at Gaziantep University in Turkey, mentioned within the launch. He added that analyses revealed that flour and water had been combined in, with the bread having been ready subsequent to the oven and saved for some time.

This discovery follows a earlier discover of 14,400-year-old bread crumbs in northeastern Jordan’s Black Desert, reported by CNN in 2018. The burnt stays of the traditional bread believed to have been constructed from wild cereals like barley, einkorn, and oats, present vital insights into early human dietary habits and culinary practices.
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The findings of each discoveries underscore the enduring fascination with unravelling the mysteries of our historic previous and make clear the exceptional ingenuity of early civilizations.