First bread proof found by archaeologists in the Middle East desert

The crumbs of what might be the first ever baked bread were found in a Middle Eastern desert.

The 14,400-year-old remains found in Jordan prove that bread-making was prior to the advent of agriculture. Scientists believe that the bread was made by hunter-gatherers using wild versions of einkorn wheat, barley and oats.

Over time, early breadmaking was able to encourage cereal cultivation and sow the seeds of the agricultural revolution.

The discovery, reported in the Proceedings of the Journal of the National Academy of Sciences, was made on an archaeological site known as Shubayqa 1 in the Black Desert of northeastern Jordan.

Scientists have discovered two well-preserved buildings. each containing a large circular stone fireplace in which we found the crumbs of bread.

The site was occupied by the ancient Natufian people 14 400 years ago, long before the development of agriculture

. the earliest traces of breadmaking came from a 9,000-year-old Neolithic site in Catalhoyuk, Turkey.

Professor Dorian Fuller, a member of the International Team at University College London, said: "The bread involves a high-intensity labor-intensive transformation that includes dehulling , the grinding of cereals and kneading, it was considered special, and the desire to make more of this special food probably contributed to the decision to start growing cereals. "

On average, the 24 crumbs analyzed measured 5.7 mm long x 4.4 mm wide and 2.5 mm thick

Looking at the fragments under an electron microscope, scientists found signs of grinding, sieving, and kneading.

Remnants of tubers and other non-cereal plants were also found at the site, as well as chips It was proved that a root, which was believed to be a tuber to massette, was incorporated into bread and cereals

Tobias Richter, Danish archaeologist, from the university. "Natufian hunter-gatherers are of particular interest to us because they have gone through a period of transition where people have become more sedentary and their diets have begun to change."

"Flint Knives and Crushed Stone Tools found on the Natufian sites in the Levant have long led archaeologists to suspect that people had begun to exploit plants in a different and perhaps more effective

"But the flat bread found at Shubayqa 1 is the first proof of bread. "It may be that the early and extremely long production of wild grain bread could have been one of the main drivers of bread production."

Agricultural revolution later, where wild cereals were grown to provide more convenient sources of food. "