Humans Cooked Bread 4000 Years Before the Origin of Agriculture

Scientists from the University of Copenhagen, the University College of London and the University of Cambridge have discovered that the ancient humans in Jordan had made bread 14,400 years ago. It was 4,000 years before the beginning of agriculture. It is a surprising discovery, because earlier studies suggested that bread making was originated after the establishment of agriculture and cereal domestication. The previous evidence of bread was found at Neolithic sites in Europe and Southwest Asia, where humans already started agriculture and domesticating plants. It was dated 9100 years ago. 

(Flat Bread. Picture Courtesy: Pixabay)

Now, the scientists analyzed 24 charred food remains from a Natufian hunter-gatherer site called Shubayqa 1 in northeastern Jordan. Shubayqa 1 site was discovered by Allison Bets in 1990s. The site has two ancient buildings. From the earlier research, the archaeologists have found chipped stones, ground stone tools, animal bones and plant remain in those buildings. In the current study, the scientists examined two ancient fireplaces at Shubayqa 1. They have found more than 65,000 non-woody plant macro-remains from those fireplaces. The radiocarbon dating of the charred plant remains found in the fireplaces revealed that they were 14,400 - 14,200 years old. 

The scientists used scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) to analyze 24 plant remains from the site. They analyzed the cereal tissue which is usually used to detect flat bread, dough and porridge-like products. The cereal tissue, pericarp tissue, endosperm cell structures and starch containing cells were found in 15 of the 24 plants remains. The wild wheat and barley from the fireplaces had a bulging pattern on the edges, which indicates that the grains were ground before charring. The ground stone tools found earlier at the site might have used to ground the grains before cooking. 

It is always interesting to study our (human) history. This discovery of humans prepared bread even before the starting of the agriculture is extraordinary. The scientists involved in the discovery says that the bread might be cooked as an easily transportable food and as a special food.