Archaeologists have probably found the oldest bread in the world. It spent thousands of years in the oven.
This is yet another valuable archaeological discovery in a Turkish Neolithic settlement. Researchers have determined that the find is bread. It’s hard to believe how old it is. It has been stale for millennia.
Turkey is a country beloved not only by vacationers but also by archaeologists. And it’s not surprising. Turkey is home to famous underground cities and the ruins of Troy. However, there are many more archaeological sites there. Recently, in one of them — Çatalhöyük — archaeologists discovered bread dating back around 8600 years.
An Extraordinary Archaeological Discovery in Turkey
Çatalhöyük is a Neolithic settlement whose remains are located in central Turkey. The place is exceptional, not least because it’s one of the first proto-cities ever built. Its inhabitants, numbering around 8,000, lived in houses made of sun-dried brick. In 2012, Çatalhöyük was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
It was there, in one of the buildings in the area labeled “Mekan 66,” that researchers discovered a furnace structure. Wheat, barley, peas, and a spongy residue possibly indicating food were also found around it. Analyses conducted at the Center for Research and Application of Scientific and Technological Studies at Necmettin Erbakan University revealed that it was fermented bread from around 6600 BCE.
The study authors commented that while archaeological discoveries are often associated with buildings and monuments, remnants of food from centuries and millennia ago are equally valuable.