image: Excavation of Structure 1 at Shubayqa 1. view more
Credit: Image courtesy of Alexis Pantos (photographer).
Researchers report evidence of bread-making that precedes the emergence of agriculture. Bread is an important foodstuff in modern cuisine, yet its origins are not well understood. The discovery of bread in Neolithic archaeological sites suggests that the invention of bread is associated with the rise of agriculture. Amaia Arranz-Otaegui and colleagues analyzed fragments of charred food remains found at a Natufian hunter-gatherer site in northeastern Jordan dating from 14,600 to 11,600 years ago. The fragments exhibited a porous matrix resembling that of a flat, unleavened bread-like product. Many of the fragments showed cereal grain features, but some also showed the presence of noncereal components derived from a root-type food, most likely club-rush tuber. Both cereal and noncereal components appeared to have undergone thorough milling, sieving, and/or winnowing, based on the particle sizes, the absence of cereal chaff or whole grains, and the prevalence of grinding implements at the site. The results provide evidence for the preparation of bread-like products 4,000 years before the emergence of agriculture. Nevertheless, existing archaeobotanical evidence suggests that other noncereal foods composed the bulk of the diet during the Natufian period. Thus, bread likely became a dietary staple only after the establishment of agriculture, according to the authors.
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Article #18-01071: "Archaeobotanical evidence reveals the origins of bread 14,400 years ago in northeastern Jordan," by Amaia Arranz-Otaegui, Lara Gonzalez Carretero, Monica N. Ramsey, Dorian Q. Fuller, and Tobias Richter.
MEDIA CONTACT: Amaia Arranz-Otaegui, University of Copenhagen, DENMARK; e-mail: <kch860@hum.ku.dk>
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences